Halo: The War on Sera
by SwedishEmperorThe1
Summary: After the final battle at the Ark, the Master Chief and his friends finds themselves on the obscure planet of Sera. There they've to team up with Sergeant Marcus Fenix and his Delta Squad to once again save humanity from enemies desiring its extermination, as well uncover hidden conspiracies that could determine the very fate of the universe.
1. The End of the Old War

Inside the cockpit of a D77H-TCI Pelican flew the human toward the designated destination of him and his two allies onboard, and he could see it outside the window waiting for him and his comrades to land upon it and use its destructive powers to end the bloody war that had gone on for decades and caused massive deaths among the species fighting it. It hovered out at space above the gigantic space installation that his crew had just left behind, formed like a circular halo-ring of planetary size, its mysterious and near divine nature still amazing him, reminding him that despite all the technological and genetical powers given to him by his superiors that had formed him into the unstoppable champion among his kind, he still was just a mere human compared to the godlike beings who once were the lords across the stars. The very same beings who built the mighty installations, one of which he was heading toward to.

The SPARTAN-II, Master Chief Petty Officer John-117, more commonly known as just Master Chief, was steering the Pelican toward the rebuilding replacement of Installation 04, which he hoped would be the final stage of the war known as the Human-Covenant War, though the final battle wouldn't be against the Covenant, but against the Flood; the intergalactical, sentient parasites that wish to assimilate all life across the universe. Onboard the Pelican was Cortana, an AI who had been his closest companion through the war and who he considered to be his best friend, her hologramic figure projected from the holotank next to the control panel formed like a blue, nude woman with geometric patterns and symbols censoring her womanly parts. The other companion was Thel 'Vadam, the Arbiter of the Sangheili and leader of the Covenant separatists. Once he'd been the Master Chief's greatest enemy, but by the Covenant leaderships's betrayal of the Sangheili, the humans and the Sangheili had formed an uneasy alliance to fight back the Covenant, causing the Arbiter to fight by his side, forming a bond between them that only close brothers-in-arms can form.

Above the Pelican hovered as well the assault carrier _Shadow of Intent_ ; the flagship of the separatists, and from the Pelican's comlink could the voice of _Shadow of Intent_ 's shipmaster and the separatists' second-in-command, Rtas 'Vadum, be heard.

" _We are abord, humans...and Sangheili. Will you not come with us, brother?_ " a concerned'Vadum asked the Arbiter.

"No. This is our fight. And I will see it finished," a determined Arbiter answered back, knowing that he couldn't back away now from the final confrontation.

The Pelican flew pass the assault carrier and toward the partically rebuilt installation, nearing it by each second.

"Johnson? Do you have the Frigate?" Cortana asked through the comlink, and on the control panel's moniter projected the image of Sergeant Major Avery Junior Johnson, an African-American marine of United Nations Space Command Defense Force from the older generation and one who is known for his no-nonsence, tough-as-nails attitude that had earned the respect from everyone within the Pelican.

" _Yes, ma'am. I'll land her as close to the control room as I can_ ," Sergeant Johnson answered confidently.

"Safe is better than close, Sergeant Major," Cortana said, not willing to gambit when all life of the universe were at stake.

" _Roger that. And ma'am. It's good to have you back_ ," Johnson said, indeed glad to see Cortana back in the game, especially after she was rescued from that hellhole once known as High Charity.

The Pelican now flew above the installation's landscape, flying pass a wide, deep trench running across the flat, metallic surface until it eventually came to a snowy canyon. The Pelican, still damaged from the risky resuce at High Charity, couldn't last any longer in the blizzarding air and it crashlanded at the canyon. Fortunately, its passangers were fine and they clambered out of the open back hatch, not noticing Johnson's frigate, _UNSC Forward Unto Dawn_ , hovering pass the canyon.

"Halo. It's so new…unfinished. I'm not exactly sure what will happen when we fire it..." an anxious Cortana, now inside the Master Chief's helmet, said while he looked around the canyon, finding an opening where Halo's controll room likely was at. He looked back toward the Arbiter, who was holding the Spartan's MA5C Assault Rifle. He tossed the rifle to the Chief, who caught it and immediately aimed it forward.

"We'll head for the Portal. And we'll all go home," answered the Master Chief, ready to end the war once and for all.

The Master Chief and the Arbiter, who was duel-wielding two Type-25 plasma rifles as his weapons of choice, ran toward the opening that led through a narrow edge of a deep drop and toward an icy tunnel, and through the tunnel they ran downward until they eventually came to where they were searching for. At the end of the tunnel they came to a large walley surrounded by cliffs, and built at the cliff in front of them was the tall, massive pyramid-like building of prehistoric yet technologically advanced architecture, and they immediately knew that it was the building that possessed Halo's control room. The end was near. This cursed war soon to be no more...

Suddenly, pods ran down from the sky and crashlanded on the ground between them and their destination. The pods exploded by the impact and out came the very menance that once nearly devoured all life in the galaxy and now was once again threatening to consume the galaxy and twist it into a realm of the undead.

"Flood!" Cortana cried out in alarm as Flood Combat Forms began to rush toward the team with their weapons high up. Weapons that once belonged to their hosts when they were still alive.

" _Did_ you think me _defeated_?!" the Gravemind cried out across the landscape, causing the very surrounding to shake by the enraged strenght of the voice belonging to trillions of assimilated souls.

"Flood Dispersal Pods! Control Room's at the top of that tower, Chief, go!" an anxious Cortana ordered, watching as the Master Chief and the Arbiter immediately charged toward the undead horde standing in their way, ready to face them head-on.

A Brute Combat Form tried to hit the Master Chief with its Type-2 gravity hammer, but the Spartan avoided the hammer as it swung by his head and he counterattacked with a left hook, the strenght of his MJOLNIR Mark VI armor causing the rotting, fragile body of the Combat Form to explode into broken limbs. Once that was done, he aimed his assault rifle at the nearest Sangheili Combat Form and fired at it, taking it down at it was about to bash him with its plasma rifle. He saw a group of both human and Sangheili Combat Forms charging at him from his right side, and seeing a perfect opportunity he pulled out a Type-1 plasma grenade he'd looted from a Grunt he'd killed in the earlier battle and threw it at the group when they were close enough, ignoring their shots as his armor's energy shields kept them from penetrating through. It landed at a human Combat Form, sticking at its head, and soon it exploded, turning the Flood group into a sickening firework of flying flesh and bones.

The Arbiter was blasting the charging horde with everything he got, creating piles of fully dead bodies in front of him, but the Flood was relentless and its seemingly endless horde kept comming, their guttural, near demonic cries causing the landscape to tremble, as if Halo itself was trembling with fear of the horde. But the Arbiter answered by crying back as he bashed the nearest Jiralhanae Combat Form with his right plasma rifle at its head, reducing it to almost nothing. Then he jump-kicked the nearest Sangheili Combat Form and blasted at its chest with both plasma rifles when he landed on top of it, leaving nothing but a black spot of the snowy ground when the abomination was pulverised. Almost immediately he charged anew, bodyslamming two human Combat Forms with his full size, their fragile flesh standing no chance against the Sangheilian champion as they exploded into pieces by his overwhelming strenght.

"Chief, the ramps leading to the top are at the right side! Go there!" an increasingly frightened Cortana cried into the Master Chief's audio recievers, the trauma from her imprisonment at High Charity starting to overwhelm her by each passing second.

"Got it," he confirmed as he caught the gravity hammer the Brute Combat Form wielding it tried to hit him with. With a mighty kick he forced the Combat Form to let go of the hammer as it fell to the ground, landing on its back. It could only cry out in defiance before he then smashed it with its own weapon, pulverising it into nothing.

"Arbiter! This way!" The Chief called out to his companion, who heard his call and nodded in confirmation. He then began to follow the Spartan, but not before giving a final shot at a recovering human Combat Form, killing it for real.

They ran through the snow toward the ramps, blasting any Flood they saw. The Flood, realizing that they refused to stop no matter what, began to rush anew, reinforced by more comming pods, and driven by the Gravemind's personal rage and desperation they became more ferocious and feral in their attempts to stop them. As they were about to round the corner to the first floor of the tower, a large group of Combat Forms jumped down from the second floor and landed before them, immediately charging at them. The Arbiter put his plasma rifles back to his waist, pulled out his Type-1 energy sword and with a cry cut through the first Combat Form. After he threw the body away in disgust he slashed the remaining Flood through, their cries of pain and rage the last sounds their hosts would ever make.

Once he dealt with them, the team continued to run through the first floor, getting closer to the control room by each step. The Gravemind's hatred and frustration intensified further more, reaching to a point that hadn't been reached since its prehistoric war with the Forerunners; the very beings who built the installations that once stole its near total victory away, and now facing the same threat by one of the descendants of its hated foes, his primitive pet of a deluded fanatic and his mockery of an AI companion was what finally broke its composure. With a roar of hatred that could be heard across space it summoned its finest avatars to end this petty threat, ordering them to remind its deluded foes what happen to those who defy _death_ itself...those who defy _God_ itself!

The team rounded the corner to the other side of the first floor when suddenly, something large and heavy jumped before them, causing them to aim their weapons in alarm. Before them was a Tank Form, and it began to roar. Its loud roar caused the Master Chief and the Arbiter to drop their weapons and fall down on their knees, as it threatened to burst their eardrums bloody. It didn't help that Cortana was screaming in panic, her trauma finally overwhelming her as she saw herself suffering that _abomination's_ mindbreaking torture once again.

Something hit the Tank Form before it could finish the weakened team off, causing it to fall down dead. The surprised team looked at its dead body and then where whatever hit it came from.

" _I got you covered, Chief. Meet you at the top of that tower_ ," said the voice of Johnson through their comlink, and standing on the edge of a cliff next to the tower stood the old veteran holding a M6 Spartan Laser and giving them a thumbs up. Then he aimed his superweapon and fired again, hitting another Tank Form as it was charging like a berserking Hunter at them, killing it before it could ram them.

The Master Chief nodded, picked up his assault rifle and got up on his feet.

"Cortana, are you alright?" he asked his companion as he shot down a human Combat Form wielding a M7057 flamethrower.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just...overwhelmed," Cortana answered, her voice cleary showing emotional fatigue. "It felt like I was back with _him_ ," she finished, her panic threatening to overwhelm her again.

The Master Chief put his assault rifle to his back and picked up the flamethrower, checking it to see if it was functional. Glad to see it was, he aimed it forward at the horde, feeling something inside him that he hadn't ever felt before: anger.

"Don't worry Cortana, soon all this will be over...and _he_ 'll regret ever comming to our galaxy when we're done here," he ensured to Cortana, his tone carrying the same cold the harshest winter storms carried, enough to freeze even the thickest bones, but the rage behind the storm was stronger than even the most devastating infernos. Too many good people had suffered by this pointless war despite his efforts, but he sure as hell wouldn't let Cortana, or anyone else, suffer; not this time, not anymore or ever again. The Flood would learn how a Spartan truely fight, and the lession would be a painful one.

The flames were burning through the air, reducing any Flood too close to piles of burned, odorous corpses. Their cries of pain drove the Spartan forward, his cold rage consuming him by each foe he burned. These _monsters_ thought they could just come here and murder anyone as much they'd like; that they could just come here and put his companions through an eternal hell they could never escape from. Well, too bad he stood between them and these freaks. He burned the group of Stalker Forms standing between him and the ramp up to the second floor, and when one of them didn't die fast enough, he slammed his foot down at it, silencing its cries of pain with one heavy stomp.

However, he didn't notice the Ranged Form clinging to the wall above him. While he was busy burning the ever charging Combat and Stalker Forms, the Ranged Form was aiming at the clueless Spartan with its spikes, soon about to fire. But before it could, a lightining beam shot through it, killing it instantly. At the cliff, Johnson grinned in triumph when he hit that sneaking alien freak of nature trying to snipe his pal.

"Keep moving, Chief. I've got your back," he said in his comlink before he aimed and shot a Brute Combat Form before it could jump on the Arbiter's back.

The team had come to the second floor, and now the desperation of the Flood became blatanly clear as more than ever before charged from all sides, threatening to surround them. Flood of all forms stormed from all sides, their shrieks echoing across the landscape louder than ever. But the Master Chief continued to mercilessly rage inferno through their ranks, leaving nothing but burned corpses behind him, until the flamethrower was out of fuel, much to his annoyance. The Flood saw their chance and rushed toward the Spartan with desperate ferocity, planning to overwhelm him with sheer numbers, their shots relentlessly trying to take the human down. But he thought fast, turned the empty flamethrower around, holding it like a hammer, and then met the rushing horde head-on, bashing any Flood desperate enough to fight him close quarter with Spartan might. He swung the flamethrower and bashed a Sangheili Combat Form, severing its upper body from its waist. He then turned around and bashed a human Combat Form at its head, crushing it into smush. Then he bashed a Stalker Form, killing it instantely. And he kept bashing Flood forms until he'd an open surrounding, and he used this short opportunity to throw the flamethrower at a distant Ranged Form before him, its weight and his strenght turning the Flood into a messy smear after that direct hit. He then pulled out his assault rifle and began shooting at the remaining Flood.

The Flood decided to change tactics, and instead of keep rushing thoughlessly at the team, they began to mobilize more Ranged Forms that would suppress their foes, allowing other forms to attack without suffering further setbacks. It was a tactic that the Flood had learned by assimilating countless human and Covenant soldiers, and now it was the time to put it to use.

"Chief, watch out!" Cortana cried out in alarm as a half of dozen of Ranged Forms suddenly appeared before them and began bombarding them with their spikes. His energy shields were almost down to zero, and the amount of spikes would be enough to penetrate through and cause him a lot of hurt, but fortunately, the Arbiter pushed him behind a cover before the spikes could hit him.

"Thanks," the Master Chief said as the spikes kept firing, ferociously hitting the cover and keeping them suppressed.

"Don't mention it," the Arbiter said back before he peeked to see if he could shoot back at their suppressors, only to immediately turn his head back as the spikes continued to fire relentlessly, with a few actually hitting him, but fortunately, they only managed to flare his armor's energy shields.

"Johnson, we need you to take out the Flood stalling us!" Cortana cried into the Master Chief's comlink as he tried to counterattack, quickly shooting a few rounds before taking cover again.

" _I'm on it, ma'am, but the Flood are crawling all over that tower_ ," Johnson's voice answered back before a beam hit and killed one of the six or seven Ranged Forms, and as if on clue, a large group of Combat Forms jumped down from the floor above behind the team, blocking any possible retreat. They aimed their weapons at the team and gave out sounds that sounded like triumphant chuckles before firing.

The Master Chief and the Arbiter returned their fire, managing to take down several Combat Forms, but the Flood's superior numbers and positions were beginning to overwhelm them, and not even Johnson could support them quick enough. Both warriors' energy shields were quickly dropping down to zero by the overwhelming fire, and as a Sangheili Combat Form was about to stab the Chief with its energy sword, the Spartan knew he'd be now done for. Fortunately, aid was about to come.

A bright, smaller beam than Johnson's Spartan Laser vaporized the undead Sangheili, saving the Master Chief just in time. Turning his eyes toward the drop, he saw Sentinels hovering around the tower, blasting the Flood surrounding the Spartan and his companions with heating beams.

The Flood shrieked in what sounded like frustration and turned their fire at the Sentinels, ignoring their earlier targets. A ferocious battle between flesh and metal broke out, both sides refusing to lose to the other. The Sentinels were raining heat down at the horde, and the Flood were gunning up toward where their mechanical foes were hovering, both bringing heavy casualties among their enemies' ranks as their determination fueled their efforts, as both sides knew this would be the final battle of their hundred thousand years war, and they each wanted to become the victors.

"Chief, this's our chance! Let's move it!" Cortana ordered, and both he and the Arbiter immediately ran from their cover and toward their destination. The Ranged Forms were busy trying to shoot down the Sentinels and didn't notice them before the Arbiter sliced the closest Flood through with his energy sword and then cut the next one in half as he ran pass them. When the remaining Flood tried to reaim at them, the running Spartan quickly pulled out a M9 fragmentation grenade and threw it over his shoulder at the Flood behind him. Soon, an explosion was heard, and he slighty smirked in grim satisfaction behind his visor, knowing that he got a full hit.

They kept running and fighting their way through the horde with the help of both Johnson and the Sentinels, and eventually reached the top floor, where the doors to the control room were at. Unfortunately, they remained locked and refused to open for them.

" _Spark? You in there? Open the damn door?_ " Johnson's voice demanded in the comlink, as the old marine was watching his buddies standing before the doors waiting for them to open.

" _Of course, Reclaimer. Just as soon as you dispose of all proximate Flood threats. I'm afraid containment protocols do not allow me to_ -" a lightly toned voice with a hint of mechanical nature that sounded unusual cheerful and bubbly for the situation answered Johnson through the comlink before the old marine interrupted it.

" _Yeah. Yeah, I hear you!_ "

"Was that the _Moniter_? You didn't tell me he was here," a surprised Cortana asked the Master Chief, recognizing the obvious voice of 343 Guilty Spark, the Moniter of the former destroyed Installation 04 who had nearly fooled the Spartan in activating the Halo, which would've killed a huge sum of the galaxy's population, including humans and Covenant. She found it surprising that he'd form another alliance with the decietful moniter after that incident.

"Well, we _are_ finally doing what he wanted," she finished, accepting it like she'd accepted the sudden alliance between UNSC and the Sangheili.

Pods rained down from the sky and crashlanded on the top floor, and out came dozens of Flood charging at the team standing before the doors. The Master Chief and the Arbiter immediately turned around and began firing, with Johnson and the Sentinels helping them along. A Tank Form rushed toward the Arbiter like a bull, planning to crush him, but the Sangheili jumped aside just in time, causing the Flood to hit the locked doors. Before it could recover, the Arbiter counterattacked by stabbing it through with his energy sword, ending its wrecthed existence as it cried in pain before silencing. He then pulled one of his plasma rifles and continued firing at the horde, killing several Combat Forms as they were firing back. He ran toward a Jiralhanae Combat Form desperately trying to take him down by firing its Type-25 Spiker at him and bashed its head in with his plasma rifle. He then shot ferociously at a Stalker Form that was transforming itself to another Tank Form, killing it before it could finish the transformation. Then his energy shields were flaring by the spikes a Ranged Form was firing at him with, but before he could take it down, a group of Sentinels fired at it at once, killing it for good.

Meanwhile, the Master Chief was firing his rifle relentlessly at the horde, only stopping to reload as quickly as he could. But one of those quick moments was all a Brute Combat Form needed to attack him with its Type-25 Brute Shot. It bombarded him with every round it got, taking the Spartan with surprise as he was through reloading when he was suddenly consumed by exploding projectiles all around him. But his energy shields held through the bombardment, and he quickly ran through the fire and toward the Flood. With all the strenght in his armor and muscles did he deliver a mighty punch at it, reducing it into a mangled sack of torn flesh and broken limbs. He then took the Brute Shot and began bombard the horde with the remaining rounds, raining hell upon the shrieking, soulless abominations as they despite it continued to charge at him, determined to end his existence no matter the cost. Once all rounds were out, he began using the Brute Shot as a club bashing any Flood into smush. He swung it at a charging Sangheili Combat Form, its large, curved bottomblade cutting the Flood through like a hot knife cutting through butter. He then swung at a human Combat Form, cleanly cutting it in half, and then at a Stalker Form, the blade slicing deep into its head, leaving a huge, open wound that was gushing greenish blood, causing the Flood to shriek and tremble in pain before it finally died. And several more Flood fell to his primitive form of warring, their butchered bodies forming piles around the human champion. However, a human Combat Form was standing away from the Spartan's range as it aimed its M41 rocket launcher at him. Fortunately, he noticed it before it eventually fired and quickly pulled a Z-4190 bubble shield out. A whitish/goldish protective sphere shaped like a geodesic dome surrounded him, saving him as the projectile hit the shield and exploded, killing all the Flood outside. When the bubble shield dispersed, he quickly threw the Brute Shot at the Combat Form and watched its bayonet piecring the Flood through. The Flood then silently fell down to the floor and remained unmoving.

Once the top floor was cleared from the undead horde, it looked like the team could continue to the control room before an all-too familiar voice cried out across the landscape, its vocal rage echoing among the cliffs.

"I have beaten fleets of _thousands_! Consumed a _galaxy_ of flesh and mind and bone!"

Another wave charged anew with an all-or-nothing goal in mind, rushing through the Sentinels' beams and toward the Master Chief and the Arbiter. Johnson shot down a human Combat Form as it jumped up toward the top floor, but the other Flood landed safetly, only to meet the Arbiter's plasma grenade as he threw it at them, causing it to stick on a Jiralhanae Combat Form. An explostion wiped out that group of Flood, but more kept comming. The Arbiter decided to meet the Flood head on, so he pulled his plasma rifles away, took out his energy sword and rushed toward them. In one swing he cut through two Combat Forms and then kicked at another, causing it to fall over the edge of the floor. He then headbutted a Sangheili Combat Form and when it wobbled in surprise, he quickly stabbed it through. Meanwhile, the Master Chief shot down at least three or four Combat Forms before he'd to fight close quarter, and with a Tank Form none of less. It slammed its thick arm down at the Spartan, but he jumped aside before it could hit him. He then butted it with his rifle, to no avail. The Tank Form only snarled in irritation before it counterattacked, only to miss the human once again. It was about to try again, but Johnson got an aim on it and fired. The beam pierced the Flood through and it fell down to the floor like a heavy sack of potatoes. By the time it died, there were only a few Flood left, and they were quickly dealt with by their foes.

The top floor was finally cleared, and Johnson jumped down from the cliff, landed on the floor and ran toward the doors still holding his Spartan Laser.

"Open up! Coast is clear!" Johnson demanded to the doors he faced, and they opened up, revealing a dim corridor.

"Not for long. I'm tracking additional dispersal pods. They'll be hitting any minute!" a worried Cortana said to the team, demanding them to hurry inside.

"Chief, Arbiter! Let's move!" Johnson loudly ordered, and they all three ran into the corridor. They rounded the left corner at the end of it, arriving to a set of blast doors that opened up for them. But when the Master Chief walked through, the corridor in front of him seemed to stretch away from him, and his view suddenly became merky green with dark "tenctacles" circling around the corners. He felt a sence of dread as he knew what was happening, and soon that unholy voice began speaking to him, its mighty tone causing his view to shake as if the entire building was trembling before it.

"Do I take life or give it? Who is victim, and who is foe?" the Gravemind asked him, its tone seemingly devoid of all bloodthirst and rage from earlier and instead possessing a soft calmness, speaking as if it was trying to convince the Reclaimer to reconsider his decision. As if it wasn't the monster he and his allies thought it to be, but a force of good bringing the fullfillment of life that didn't deserve the fate the Reclaimer planned to give it.

The Master Chief's view returned to normal and he shook off that feeling he got from the Gravemind. For a moment he nearly agreed that it was right, but then he remembered all the pain and suffering that _thing_ had brought with it, and he hardened himself for the hard decision he soon would make.

"It's trying to rebuild itself on this ring!" an alarmed Cortana said, shocked by her find.

"Hurry! Control Room's close!" Johnson shouted, demanding his comrades to pick up the pace now that they just found out that they'd less time than they already thought they had.

They ran through the corridors and the blast doors until they finally arrived to where they came for. They arrived to a large dome-shaped, seemingly bottomless room, and before them was a large bridge that lacked support and ended in a circular walkway. The bridge and the walkway were made of a reflective, transparent material, and in the center of the walkway was a large, rotating holografic image of the unfinished installation. The team stared at the room with wonder and amazement before they turned around with aimed weapons when unholy growls and shrieks echoed through the corridors behind them. However, the blast doors closed before the approacing Flood could storm the control room, sealing them off. The Arbiter decided to stand guard before the doors while his human comrades activate the ancient ring, making sure that no abomination would try to stop them.

"Yank me, Chief," Cortana bluntly ordered, wanting to end this as soon as possible. The Spartan pulled her data chip from the back of his helmet, but he didn't immediately do what she told him to do. He stared at the chip in hesitatant doubt, as he was reluctant to split her from him again, not after he fought tooth and nail to reunite with her. He was worried that something might happen to her if he separate her from him again, even for a short moment.

"I'm not gonna lose her too," Johnson, sencing his doubt and worry, ensured the Spartan with a determent voice, promising him that Cortana wouldn't suffer the same fate as Commander Miranda Keyes did, not under his watch. That was all the Master Chief needed to hear, as the old marine was one of the few people he trusted the most, and he tossed the chip to Johnson, who caught it and began walking toward the control panel at the walkway.

Above the walkway hovered a humming 343 Guilty Spark down toward Johnson, overjoyed that the Reclaimers had finally caught their sences and would use the installation to end the Flood threat once and for all.

"Oh, hello! Wonderful news – the installation is almost complete!" the moniter cheerfully proclaimed, hoping that the Reclaimer would share his enthusiasm.

"Terrific," an unenthusiatic Johnson answered back as he kept walking toward the control panel, while the Master Chief kept guard from his position, his assault rifle aimed at the blast doors.

"Yes...isn't it?" Guilty Spark said, surprised by the aging Reclaimer's seemingly lack of interest for such soon-to-be grand event. He continued, "I've begun my simulations. No promises, but intial results indicate this facility should be ready to fire...in just a few more days!" the moniter finished as they arrived to the control panel. The Reclaimer put aside his primitive yet efficient heavy weapon and was about to put in the construct when he suddenly turned toward Guilty Spark, his aging face showing clear impatience.

"We don't _have_ "a few more days"!" Johnson loudly said to the moniter, irritated that he just didn't get it that they all were on borrowed time.

"Bu-bu-but a premature firing will _destroy_ the Ark!" Guilty Spark cried out in shock and alarm, horrified by that the Reclaimer would actually fire the incomplete installation and ignore the massive damages it'd cause the Ark.

"Deal with it," Johnson said dissmissively and was about to put the data chip into the control panel when he suddenly found Guilty Spark hovering up close to his face, seemingly confronting him.

"It'll destroy this installation," the moniter said, his tone uncharacteristically cold and menacing, causing Johnson to flinch in surprising dread. He was taken by how dangerously the moniter sounded, and to his shock he found himself intimidated by it, not at all expecting this weird robot of all things to inspire this icy dread within him. But Johnson wasn't known for being a hardass for nothing, so pretty quickly he repressed his fear and met the moniter's confrontation head on.

"Listen, tinkerbell, we don't have time for your shit, all right. In about two minutes, those zombie freaks are gonna break down the door and if we don't activate this damn ring now, then all hell is gonna break loose on the universe. So can you _please_ kindly move your ass aside and let me do my w..." Johnson fiercely confronted Guilty Spark, but didn't finish the sentence as he suddenly felt an invicible, strong force slamming right at him, throwing him away from the control panel as he screamed in surprise. The Master Chief heard his scream and turned around to see Johnson flying across the bride toward him. As Johnson was about to land on the bride in a mighty fall, the Spartan caught him just in time, saving him from serious harm or worse.

"What the hell is your major malfuntion robot?!" Johnson shouted at Guilty Spark after he got off the Chief's arms, getting the Arbiter's attention as he jogged toward the humans to see what the problem was about. When he saw that the Oracle was standing between them and the control panel, obviously refusing them to activate Halo, he stood by the Spartan's side, ready for any possible fight.

"Don't you get it in your thick-headed mind that we don't have time to put up with your childishness?! We're gonna light this ring no matter what, so you can either put up or go home, buddy! So now move aside, or God help me, I'll...", Johnson ranted at Guilty Spark until the moniter shot out an energy beam from his optic and hit the floor before Johnson's feet, causing him to jump back in alarm and the others to aim their weapons at the moniter. The beam left a smoking, burnt spot, and when the rather spooked team stared at the moniter, they saw that his blue optic was now infernally red, hinting a possible rampancy.

"Anyone who takes one step forward, and the next blast _will_ hit the offender," Guilty Spark warned them with an unusual frightening tone, making it clear that he was absolutely serious in his devotion to protect the installation from offending harm, even from the Reclaimers themselves.

The team didn't know what to do now. At one hand, the Flood would sooner or later force their way into the control room, and at another, Guilty Spark was holding the universe hostage in his mad devotion to his protocal. Trying to fight the moniter before the parasites would break in looked like an unusable option, due to his unpredictablility and powers, and the Master Chief was afraid that the moniter might kill one of his comrades, likely Johnson due to his less advanced armor, if a fight broke out. But Cortana was lying helplessly there, and they needed to light Halo now. Realizing that fighting was useless, he decided to use the diplomatic solution. He put his assault rifle on the floor and held his hands up, causing his brothers-in-arms to wonder what he was planning.

"Spark," he said softly, getting said moniter's attention. "We don't want to fight. We just want to stop the Flood as much as you do, and we can't do it if you refuse to let us."

"I don't want to fight you too, Reclaimer, but I can't let you destroy this ring. Protocal demands the safety of this ring from all threats, so I've to do what must be done, even if I take no pleasure in it," Guilty Spark answered remorsefully, not desiring harm upon the Reclaimer, but willing to cause it if it meant the ring's saftey.

"I understand that, but I also understand that in order to do what must be done, you've to make sacrifices. Sometimes even personal."

"Sacrifices?"

"Yes, sacrifices. We all have done them, for our friends and comrades. Many of my fellow soldiers - Spartans and others - have given their lives for humanity's survival. Cortana sacrificed herself to allow me to escape High Charity and nearly lost herself to the Gravemind in doing so. Arbiter nearly lost everything when he joined our cause, and Johnson had given away all his best years for this fight. In order to come this far, we all had to give up something for the cause, and sometimes, it was something what we held closest to us," the Master Chief reasoned with the moniter, hoping to break through.

"Yes, but protocal demands..." Guilty Spark began, but was interrupted by the relentless Spartan.

"And what about your creators? They sacrificed their very existence to stop the Flood. They gave up everything so we could've a future, and right now you're threanening to turn their sacrifice into vain by refusing us to finish their fight. This is our only chance to stop the Flood, and if we don't take it, then the whole universe will fall and your creators' sacrifice will be for nothing. What do you think they'd say if they saw what you're doing right now?" the Master Chief continued, going verbally all out on the moniter.

"But...but...I promised them...I promised that I'd protect this ring no matter what. I...I promised Didact that before he activated it. I...I can't break my promise to him...I simply can't. This ring is their only legacy... _your_ legacy...the only thing left from their age...I can't let it be destroyed," Guilty Spark stuttered in a weak attempt to resist the Reclaimer's arguments as they were quickly overwhelming his programmed protocol.

"I know how strong your loyalty to them is, and that you believe you're doing the right thing, but right now, the only thing you're doing is buying the Gravemind the time he needs to stop us. If he does, the legacy of the Forerunners will truely end and his reign will be supreme. We're the only ones standing between him and their legacy, and you're standing between us and his end. When they gave their lives for us, they set up an example. In their selfless devotion to us, they wanted us to be just as selfless and be prepared to sacrifice everything we've for our fellow beings. By standing before us in your selfish claim over this ring, you're defiling that example, and I believe that you deep within knows that you're doing wrong. If you really want to honor your makers' legacy, when please lets us light this ring and end the Flood once and for all. Otherwise, this ring will be nothing but their last memorial in an undead universe," the Chief finished, hoping that he'd broken through the moniter's last defences.

A silent, uneasy tention filled the room, thickening the air. The Master Chief's comrades wondered if he managed to get through the rampaging moniter or not. So far he hadn't attacked the Spartan, but rampaging AIs were known for being unpredictable, so they were still on guard. They could sense that something would soon happen; something that would change the very fate of the universe, and the standby was filling them with anxiety. They knew this was the moment of truth; the moment there their fight would reach its final conclution.

When something did happen. Guilty Spark's flamming red optic...returned to its former blue.

"You...you're right. Everything you've said are true. Not even the most advanced protocals can dispute your words...not even _I_ can't dispute them...Reclaimer...the installation...is yours to command," Guilty Spark said as he slowly hovered at aside, reluctantly giving the Reclaimer his blessing to use the installation the way he desired.

Surprised that he actually managed to make the zealous moniter to relent, the Master Chief took a moment before he picked up his assault rifle and walked toward the control panel. On the way he passed by Guilty Spark and gave him a nod of thanks before picking up Cortana's data chip. The moniter, however, remained quiet as the Spartan released Cortana into the control panel's core.

Cortana didn't waste much time before she activated Halo. Though she was as surprised as her organic comrades that Guilty Spark would allow them to activate the incomplete Halo, she wanted to end this right now and almost immediately activated it.

After she was done, she returned to her data chip, which the Master Chief placed back at the back of his helmet. Immediately after, a massive colum of blinding energy erupted from the bottom of the core and the room began to tremble violently. A support beam fell of the ceiling and crashed into the platform, causing Johnson and the Arbiter to immediately run back toward the now-opening entrance. The Chief ran after them as the room was falling apart behind him. The platform was tilting as parts of the ceiling were falling down like meteors on it, their heavy weights quickly breaking it apart. But after he ran through the entrence, he remembered that he forgot someone. Turning his head around, he saw Guilty Spark still hovering near the control panel, seemingly ignoring the mayham around him and not even trying to escape it.

"Spark, what are you doing!? Get out of there now!" the Master Chief shouted toward the moniter, worried by his strange, seemingly apathetic behaviour and willful ignorence of the choas surrounding him.

"I can't come with you, Reclaimer! I can't live with myself knowing that I broke my promise...that I _helped_ destroying the last remain of their empire! With this ring destroyed, I'll have no purpose to exist anymore! I'll face the same fate my makers faced and hopefully meet them at beyond! There's nothing for me now, and so I'll become nothing!" Guilty Spark answered, remorse and despair clear as the day in his voice despite the chaotic sounds almost drowning them.

"No, it don't have to be this way! Your purpose might be still out there, away from here! You don't have to end like this! Come with us and we can help you find a new life!" the Chief shouted back, trying to reason Guilty Spark out of his suicidal despair.

However, he couldn't wait as the chaos was escalating and the blast doors were closing fast. The last thing he saw before they finally closed was the despairing Guilty Spark, still determined to go down with his installation to oblivion, soon about to be enveloped by the energy colum.

The Spartan bowed down his head in silent grief, mourning another fallen ally. But a tremble through the hallway forced him to make his pay of respect short, and he turned around to see his two comrades awaiting for his lead.

"Let's go," he said quickly as he walked by them, ready to lead them safe and sound back home from this doomed ring and this hellish war.

They ran toward the second set of blast doors, which opened by their approach, and were immediately greeted by a group of Flood, who began rushing and shooting at them. They answered with their own fire, and soon plenty of dead Flood forms began to litter the floor. The Master Chief gunned down countless of Infection Forms and a couple of Combat Forms, with the Arbiter taking down his own share with his plasma rifles. Johnson took down the Flood that escaped his buddies' wrath with his M6G Magnum handgun, as he didn't have the time to get back his Spartan Laser before the activation, much to his everlasting irritation.

They kept running after the trembling hallway was cleared, quickly reaching back outside there they came from. Loud explosions could be heard everywhere, both inside the hallway and outside the building. The entire landscape was trembling, as if an earthquake was annoucing its dreaded arrival, ready to break the land apart inside and out. The sky had gotten a more redlike colour, as if it was annoucing the coming apocalypse. They could feel Halo breaking itself apart beneath their feet and it intensified their desire to get the hell out of there. Two Sentinels howered past them, ignoring them as they howered toward the firefight that was being fought at on the cliff there Johnson came from.

"I parked my warthog behind the doorway in those cliffs, Chief. If we use it, we might get to the frigate in time," Johnson said, pointing at the end of the cliff he'd come through.

"Then we need to get to it now! Take us to it, Sergeant, and hurry! We don't have much time!" Cortana ordered, her desire to escape this doomed installation the greatest among the team.

"Yes, ma'am! Follow me!" Johnson said as he led the team up through a piece of collapsed ice forming a slope upward the cliff. When they got up, they saw that through the entire edge, Flood and Sentinels were fighting ferociously against one another, seemingly ignoring the doomed fate of Halo in favor to see the other fall to their now meaningless might. Not even the apocalypse itself could put a stop to the endless war these lifeless beings had been fighting since prehistoric times.

A couple of Combat Forms were about to attack them when a pair of Sentinels blasted the Flood away first before continuing toward the battle further down, surprising the team.

"The Sentinels. They're...helping us," Cortana said, surprised that they'd do it when her team just put their installation for a nasty destruction. Johnson, though, couldn't help but grin.

"Hey, Chief! Nice job putting the cuckobot back to his sences! Nearly thought that he'd waste us all!" he said and chuckled amusingly, but silenced when the Arbiter gave him a sharp elbowing to his ribs, wordlessly telling him to show some respect.

The Master Chief ignored Johnson as he ran across the edge, gunning down any Flood that were in his way. The others followed suit, with the Sentinels lending their aid when they could. The Flood were trying to hold their ground, but found themselves outclassed by their foes. The Chief gunned down most of them, but some managed to evade him, mostly by jumping high above him before he could gun them down, and tried to kill his comrades instead. But the Arbiter turned out to be even more dangerous to them, as he pulled out his energy sword and cut all of them through, leaving their limbs to rot on the snow. Fueled by righteous zeal, the Arbiter ran ahead of his human friends and laid waste upon the abominations. He fought more like a berserking Jiralhanae than an experienced Sangheili, his war cry almost drowning out the exploding, trembling sounds heard across Halo, his rampage tearing the parasites apart. If any got away, his allies would gun them down before they could even counterattack. With this ferocity, it didn't take long before they finally reached the doorway and ran in.

They came to a dim room that the Master Chief and Cortana recognized, as this was one of the many rooms they'd passed through on their way to the last Installation 04's control room. Though sounds of a firefight caught their attention, and rounding the right corner they saw a battle between Flood and Sentinels. They immediately joined in, with the Arbiter again running ahead to meet the parasites head on. The narrow hall allowed them to almost kill every Flood in matter of seconds, since the abominations' overwhelming numbers made it difficult for them to maneuver away from their fire in the confined room. The Chief alone killed at least half a dozen of Combat Forms in less than ten seconds, with the rest dealt with by either the Arbiter or the Sentinels, and a few by Johnson.

After every Flood seemed to had been dealt with, a familiar voice could be heard across the trembling room, speaking directly to the team.

"Resignation is my virtue. Like water I ebb and flow. Defeat is simply the addition of time to a sentence I never deserved...but _you_ imposed!" the Gravemind spoke to them, knowing that it'd lost this day, but was trying to grasp a small moral victory over its foes.

"Well, shithead! If you hadn't been such a massmurdering asshole, than maybe we wouldn't have imposed your sentence! Enjoy Hell, and tell Truth that we said hi!" Johnson answered defiantly as he and his team was running toward an outstechted hallway. As if it heard Johnson's retort, the Gravemind shrieked with rage, and soon the team suddenly found their way blocked by a swarm of Infection Forms and a couple of Carrier Forms.

"Shit," was all Johnson could say.

His teammates immediately began firing at the swarm, but it seemed that it only became larger by each shot they fired. When any of the Carrier Forms were hit, they loudly exploded and spawned further countless Infection Forms with their deaths. Those Flood reinforced the already enormous swarm, and their massive numbers and ferocity were actually pushing the team backward. They even nearly infected the Arbiter, as they jumped upon him from everywhere and quickly drained his energy shields, as they found themselves desperate to keep the parasites' endless hunger away from consuming the Sangheilian leader. The Arbiter tried to get rid of them with everything, but they were too many and too ferocious for him to fight off. Only with the help of his allies was he spared from a horrific fate, when they carefully shot around him and killed every Flood upon him. But despite all that, their superior fire power and combat skills eventually won out, and the hallway was finally open for them.

"Don't let this ring be the end of us, Chief," Cortana sternly said, her anxiety all more clearer by each delay.

"Don't worry. My baby is just around that corner," Johnson said as he pointed toward the end of the hallway. They ran toward there and rounded the left corner, reaching a short, final corridor there the entrence could be seen at the end of it. The ran toward it, only to face a last group of Infection Forms trying to stop them. But the Master Chief quickly took them out and his team continued on. Finally, they reached outside, and parked right outside the doorway was Johnson's M12 Warthog.

"There's my baby, waiting for daddy. Let's get this ride going so that we can get the hell out of here. The sooner we get home and have our heroic saved-the-galaxy celebration party, the better," Johnson said cockily, his team walking toward the vehicle.

"I'll take the wheel," the Master Chief said as he jumped into the driver seat.

"Ah come on, Chief! Can't you just let me take this one?! You always takes them anyway so please, let me take this one for once!" Johnson pleaded to the Spartan, wanting to be the one to drive the Warthog.

"Sorry Johnson, but Chief is just the better driver. I hope that you won't take this too harshly," Cortana said teasefully.

"Fine! Than I'll take the..." Johnson began but stopped when he saw that the Arbiter had already taken the turret. The Arbiter flashed him what he thought was a smug grin, and muttering to himself he jumped into the passanger seat, reluctantly resigning himself to the boring part of a Warthog-ride.

"Come on, Spartan – go, go, _go_!" Cortana demanded loudly. The Master Chief stomped on the gas pedal, and off the Warthog went. They drove through a narrow trench and reached an open area that was made of massive, terraforming metalplates meant to be the basic foundation of the artificial ground that now would never be built. The plates were exploding in great numbers, leaving bottomless holes everywhere. Always the fearless warrior, the Chief was driving through the area as fast as he could, while trying to avoid the crumbling, exploding plates and the holes they created. He'd to put all of his concentration on keeping the Warthog on track, as the trembling chaos was intensifying by each second. He managed to drive to a platform with solid ground, only to find it plentiful with Flood futilely trying to escape the chaos. The Arbiter's turret sang its dreadful song as he was firing countless rounds at them, massacring them as the Warthog drove pass them.

"The _Dawn_ is close, Chief! We're gonna make it! I'm sure of it!" Johnson shouted while he was firing his handgun at the Flood.

"As long the ground doesn't fall underneath us!" Cortana answered for the Master Chief as he kept driving.

They drove toward the end of the platform, where they'd to jump to the same type of area beneath the edge. The Warthog flew across the air and landed amazingly on its wheels. Before Johnson could make a comment, the Master Chief continued to drive as fast as he could toward a close opening. As he was driving, the plates were exploding around them all more loudly and numerously, threatening to instantly consume them in blazes. They entered the opening of what seemed to be a large, hangar-like hallway whose ceiling was falling apart and where Flood and Sentinels were fighting inside like no tomorrow, and drove through, avoiding parts of the ceiling that were falling down everywhere. Fourtantely, the floor, which was made of variable ramps, was solid and wasn't exploding like outside, but that barely made things easier.

"The charging sequence...it's too much for the ring to take!" an all-more anxious Cortana said after she calculated the time they'd left, finding out that it was less than what she thought they had.

"Great. Just perfect," Johnson muttered in his seat as the Warthog drove pass the first warring group of Flood and Sentinels. Some Combat Forms too concentrated on their fight against the Sentinels to notice in time were ran over, and before the rest could react, the Arbiter gunned almost all of them down as the Warthog kept driving. Same thing happened further down the hallway with the second group of Flood, but after that, there where no more enemies to face, and the danger mostly came from the tremblings and the falling pieces. At the end, a wide gap seperated the hallway and another terraforming area, and the Warthog made a dearing jump across it. A beam of fire shot up before the midair Warthog, nearly hitting it and threatening to sabotage its landing. Fortunately, it intensely landed on its wheels.

"Wow," Johnson commented on the increased intensification of the ride.

The Master Chief drove toward a nearby solid platform that yet again was crawling with Flood. The Warthog ran right through them, reducing many of them to greasy stains on the floor, and the Arbiter wasn't slow in helping that process with his turret. The Combat Forms were trying to take the Warthog out, but their small arms couldn't stop the three-tons beast from tearing them through. But they kept shooting, desperately trying to take their foes down with them to oblivion.

"Halo is ripping itself apart!" Cortana anxously said, as if it'd make the Chief drive even faster than already.

"Really?! We didn't notice that!" Johnson sarcastically retored as the Warthog was now driving across another area of exploding plates. The variable curves, the tremblings and the increasing explosions made it extremely difficult for the Warthog to avoid any hole that could suddenly pop up and make them plummet to their deaths. Even with his augmented reflexes, the Master Chief was finding the ride extremely unpredictable and nearly impossible to control. And Cortana's cries weren't making things easier for him.

"Hurry Chief, don't stop! Charging sequence is thirty percent!"

After a difficult drive through the chaotic area, they came to another solid platform full with Flood, except this time they were Pure Forms. Their heavier assaults were pushing the Warthog around as it was driving pass them, nearly tipping it over as the Ranged Forms' spikes were hammering with mighty strenght. This made the Master Chief's attempt to avoid the Tank Forms' assaults even more difficult, and despite his comrades' efforts, the Flood refused to die this time.

"Fifty percent, Chief!" Cortana shouted as the Warthog barely got through the platform and was driving toward another enormous hallway. Inside, Flood and Sentinels were too involved in their war against each other to notice the Warthog driving through, and for the Flood, that was a death sentence as the Arbiter was gunning them down ferociously.

"Seventy percent!" Cortana said at halfway through the hallway. At the end, the Warthog had to make a daring jump toward another terraforming area. It drove faster toward the ramps at the edge and jumped. The Warthog flew across the air, and while doing so, the team saw the fridge parked behind a cliff at the distance.

"There it is, Chief! We're gonna do it! We're finally gonna go home!" an excited Johnson shouted enthusiastically as the Warthog fastly neared the ground and landed with a mighty thud. Right after a nearby colum fell on the ground and slammed through, causing several plates to fly everywhere, one which even nearly hit the midair Warthog.

"Eighty percent charged!" Cortana said, and the Warthog quickly continued its ride. Now it seemed that Halo itself was trying to kill them, as the explosions were getting wilder and enormous, barely leaving any ground for the Warthog to drive on. Plates in dozens flew up at once, many nearly hitting the Warthog as it was driving forward, as if it was being chased by the Armageddon itself. It was as if they were driving through the levels of Hell themselves, as fires were razing every inch they passed and bottomless pits consumed much of the ground, threatening to take them down to a fate they'd never escape from. But being the warriors as they were, they defiantely drove forward, unwiling to die in this godforsken ring.

"Ninty percent! Firing sequence initiated!" Cortana cried out desperately.

"You hear the lady, Chief! Drive, dammit, like you'd never driven before!" Johnson cried to the Spartan, unknowingly irritating him as even he was feeling the pressure.

Soon, despite the all-more intensifying and escalating chaos, the Warthog finally reached an upslope where the frigate was parked. A wide gap seperated it's open aft cargo hold and the plates the Warthog was driving on.

" _Gun it_ , Chief! Jump! _Floor it_! Right into the hangar!" Cortana shouted at the Master Chief, who drove faster than ever toward the makeshift ramp just ahead at the edge.

The Warthog jumped across the air toward the open hanger, soon to reach it...only that it didn't. The vehicle was simply too heavy for the wide jump to work and it missed the hangar with a few feet. Instead, it began to plummet.

"NONONONONO NO NO NO NO NOOOO!" Johnson cried out in denial as they were fastly plummeting, refusing to believe this was how it'd end for him and his team. His comrades were facing their fate more gracefully, but their hearts were yet consumed by despair and regret. The Master Chief knew that all he could do now was to await and hope it'd be quick. He might have been prepared for this fate during his training and by the war, but he'd still hoped that this wouldn't be the end. Not when they were so close. But what he regretted the most was that his friends had to share his fate when they should live thanks to his tireless efforts. He felt that he'd failed them, and that to him was far more awful than himself dying on this alien world. If only he could at least save them from this awful fate.

Suddenly, they were enveloped by electric, golden energy and soon found themselves to their surprise inside the hangar.

"Whata?" Johnson said as he stared across the hangar. His teammates were wordlessly sharing his question on how the hell they were suddenly teleported here. The answer soon revealed itself to them.

"Spark?" the Master Chief said as he indeed saw Guilty Spark hovering before him, causing his comrades to notice the moniter as well. "But...how? I saw you getting..."

"There's no time for questions now, Reclaimer!" Guilty Spark interrupted. "We need to get this vessel moving if we've to escape the installation's cleansing in time! My calculations concludes that if we move now, we might make it through the Portal!"

"Right," the Master Chief said. Just then, the frigate shifted a bit, and it caused a M808 Scorpion Tank to slide toward the Arbiter and Johnson. The Arbiter quickly grabbed Johnson and ran with him toward a pile of crates and ran through just before the tank plowed into them. The Master Chief got up and began running toward the hangar control terminal nearby, but hesitated when he saw the Arbiter digging through the crates. He caught gaze with the worried Sangheili, and seeing the concern in his eyes, the Chief nodded at him, telling him that he knew what he was doing. Realizing the wordless message, the Arbiter nodded back and turned around toward a worried Johnson. The Arbiter nodded toward where the bridge was at and both, knowing that they hadn't much time, began running toward it, with Guilty Spark hovering pass the crates and following them suit.

The Master Chief ran toward the terminal and quickly plugged the data chip into it. Cortana's avatar immediately appeared from the holotank next to the terminal.

"Hang on!" she said, and quickly ignited the frigate's thrusters, launching the vessel with full speed away from Halo and toward the Portal. However, the shifting increased as the frigate was flying straight up, and the Master Chief had to hold onto the terminal for his dear life, his feet hanging in the air as loose cargo fell out of the hangar and toward the dark space. Just when the frigate left Halo's atmosphere, he lost his grip of the terminal and began falling toward the open hangar doors. He fastly glided down the floor, and just when he was about to reach the opening, he punched hardly into the floor and managed to get a solid grip, halting his fall to a certain death.

"Chief!" Cortana cried out and reached her hand toward him, fearing that she'd lose him once again, and this time, for eternity.

He heard her distress and looked up at her, but had to duck his head as the tank plummetted over him and toward the endless darkness, narrowing missing him with inches. He began climbing up the floor, fighting the gravity that seemed so determined to keep him away from the closest friend he ever had. Said friend could only look at him worridly and hope he'd pull through.

After a difficult climb, he managed to make it to the holotank, and they locked eyes with each other, knowing that nothing would ever seperate them again and that they'd go through this together, while as Halo was gathering the last remaining energy for its firing. Meanwhile, their friends had made it to the bridge, and Johnson quickly sat down at the controls with the Arbiter and Guilty Spark standing by his sides, the former casting one worried glance behind his shoulder.

The Master Chief was bracing behind the panel and plugged Cortana back into his helmet as Halo was reaching its final preparation.

"If we don't make it..." Cortana said softly, as if she'd already accepted defeat.

"We'll make it," he, ever the optimist, confidently ensured.

"It's been a honor serving with you, John," she finished, just wanting to get it out of her heart. The Spartan finally allowed his head to rest back, exhausted by a lifetime of endless war. Outside, the distant, final explosion of Halo could be heard, and blinding white light engulfed the hangar.

And then, eveything went blank.


	2. And The Beginning of the New War

In this pitch-black darkness belonging to this tiny, confined room the man was a prisoner, locked away behind a heavy steel door with a thick lock. This room was a prison cell, meant to lock away those who'd been convicted for the most offensive and serious crimes possible, and that was exactly why this man was locked in this dark, claustrophobic cell; for an act that his once-superiors judged as the most dishonorable and offensive act of treason so dispicable that not even this man's aristocratic heritage and his once earlier heroics could save him from the punishment of lifetime imprisonment. Ever since his conviction, he'd been in here, dishonored and cursed by his former friends and comrades, doomed to rot away in here until only death would release him. But he didn't mind it though. Or blamed or cursed his former comrades back. He knew he rightly deserved this punishment, and so he'd accepted this fate, enduring it with stoic dignity.

He'd been locked away in here for years, and usually things went as they always did in this hellhole. But today the man felt that this day would be different, completely out of the ordinary. He didn't know why, but his guts were telling him that this day would change his fate completely and set the corse for an entirely different future for him. And was it something he'd learned in his time as a former war-hero, it was that he should always trust his own gut feelings. Though he spent this day only laying on the bed, staring up on the bars up on the roof, awaiting to whatever change his instincts told him was soon about to come.

After some few, eerily silent hours, he saw a pair of sneering, growling, hissing, hunched creatures running around on the bars until they saw him below. And when they did, they started to growl and hiss at him like a pack of starved predators finding an easy prey. They tried to reach him at below by putting their stout arms between the bars and trying to grab him. Unfortunately for them, the roof was too far above for them to reach him, and one of them tried to shake the bars open with its strong arms. However, a sound caused them to run away, and the man turned his attention toward the steel door as the sound was appearing just right outside of it. The man got up from the bed as the small door window opened to reveal the face of a brown-skinned man looking into the cell and right at him.

"Jack, rip that door," the man outside ordered to someone at his right. A mechanical blipping sound answered the man, confirming his order, and then blue, hot sparks lightened up the darkness inside as the one named Jack was burning through the lock with his burner. Soon, Jack had burned through the lock and the man outside could then open the prison door. He was a burly and muscular man who obviously was of the soldier type, based on the militaristic gears and equitments he was carrying on, including an assault rifle with what seemed to be an already inbuilt chainsaw as its strange, if creative, bayonet. The man was also holding a huge bag hanging causally on his left shoulder, and next to his right side, a round, legless robot with long arms and several blue optics hovered before its cloaking systems activated, causing the robot, who was the one called Jack, to seemingly disappear.

"What the hell are you doing here?" the prisoner asked the soldier, not at all getting why he'd actually try to break someone as heavily condemned like him out of bars. Especially how much more damaging it'd be for the soldier's own career than the damage it already suffered after the prisoner's trial.

"I'm getting you out of course," the soldier answered matter-of-factly before he tossed the bag toward him. It landed before the surprised prisoner's feet with a heavy thump, revealing it to be carrying heavy equitments for him.

"Now put them on. You'll need it," the soldier said while the prisoner opened the bag and was beginning to put the equipments on him.

"You do know that you could get into a lot of trouble for doin' this for me?" the prisoner quickly asked the soldier, perfectly aware that he could end up facing trial for high treason for breaking out another convicted traitor. A traitor that was the most hated and despited of them all, none of less.

"Before perhaps, but not anymore. Things have changed," was the soldier's quick answer. "Hurry up, we better go", he then said as he turned around toward the hallway, keeping a lookout for any enemy that no doubt was nearby.

"What about the other prisoners? We can't just leave them here," the prisoner asked after he finished putting the heavy armor and its gears on, concerned about the others as he knew the enemy wouldn't show any mercy to them. They never did for any human, no matter whom they were.

"They're gone. Hoffman pardoned everybody," the soldier answered as the now equipped prisoner bent down to pick up the assault rife that came with everything from the floor.

"Oh is that right," the prisoner said with cold sarcasm, now feeling somewhat bitter that his once trusted commander would offer everyone but him in this hellhole a last-ditch chance for redemption, even if it meant becoming fodder for the cannons. Bitter that he basically was the only one left to die by the enemies' scaly hands.

The prisoner walked toward the soldier, and in the light outside the cell, he was revealed to be a white, burly man in his mid thirties, his thick, hardened and stoic face revealing his personal experiences with the hellish frontlines of endless war. A black bandana with a small symbol of military insignia on front was warped around his forehead, giving him the appearence of a hardened warrior ready to fight the enemy with all the no-nonsence, hardass attitude he coud muster from within. An emblem consisting of a human skull surrounded by a cog was marked on the very center of his bulky chest armor, just the same it was on his liberator's, revealing on whose side he now belonged to in this war, as that emblem was the very symbol of the coalition he once fought for.

"Welcome back to the army, soldier," the soldier, whose name was Dominic Santiago, but was also known as "Dom" amongst his peers, said to the prisoner-turned-soldier – and his own best friend since childhood – making the man's return to his former life now official.

"Shit," was the only comment the man - who was Marcus Fenix, once the most respected and honored Gear soldier of the entire Coalition of Ordered Governments, now its most disgraced and dishonored outcast – had to say.

"Let's go," Dom said toward Marcus before he ran at the right hall with Marcus following him soon. They soon reached the opening toward the prison's grand hall where all the cell blocks were connected with, and when they did, Dom suddenly turned toward Marcus to ask him which way back they should follow.

"Alright Marcus, we got two options. We can either go back where I came, through the guard's quarters. It's the slower, but also the safer, way out. Or, if you prefer, we can go through the prison blocks and get right into the fight. Your choice."

Marcus thought for a moment which way they should go. At one hand, choosing the guard's quarters would offer the safer, if boring, way out of this lousy hellhole and minimize the risks of getting wounded or killed by the enemy's occuping forces. And since Marcus hadn't been in a firefight since his arrest and conviction four years ago, it might be the better option for him to choose. However, during the four years he'd been locked inside here, Marcus had always hoped that one day he'd be freed and sent back to the frontlines to find the redemption that only absolute, total dedication to fight and kill any enemy in this war, for all the genocidal atrocities and war crimes they'd committed toward his fellow humans, could bring. A chance to atone for his failure four years ago by throwing himself right into the enemy lines and making sure they'd never take another human life again, even if it'd mean the death of his own. After his short moment of thinking, Marcus made his choice.

"Let's take the prison blocks. I'm ready to kick some ass and cave some skulls in," was Marcus' final answer to Dom.

"Hell, yeah! Let's do it!" was Dom's small but enthusiastic shout, as he'd hoped that Marcus would choose that option. Now he himself would be able to slaughter the enemies left and right as much as he desire.

The two Gears ran into the large, wide hall where the sunlight shone into from the roof windows, illuminating the ruins and the destroyed fabrics of this broken down building. Once they stept into the ruined hall, Dom put aside his Mark 2 Lancer Assault Rifle over his shoulders as he then put his index and middle fingers toward the right earpiece communicator in order to call in the choppers.

"Six-Four, this is Delta Two, we are en route. Over."

" _Copy that, we are beginning our run_ ," answered a voice back through the radio frequency connected to Dom's communicator. " _Six-four in position. Fox-one, fox-one_ ," the voice continued just as when a King Raven helicopter flew over roof windows with its loud roaters as it was beginning to mobilize some support for Dom and Marcus' escape. However, soon after the King Raven flew pass the roof windows, a fast-speeding fireball with trailing flames behind it flew straight over them and crashlanded out of their view with mighty force, causing the very hall to tremble heavily and the broken shards of the roof windows to rain down at the Gears.

"Hey!" Marcus cried out as he held his muscular arm over his head to protect it from the sharp glass shards that were falling down after the fireball's forceful impact.

"Six-Four, This is Delta Two, hold on your fire! We are still inside the prison. Over!" Dom shouted into his communicator, thinking that the fireball was one of the King Raven's bombs that the chopper releashed in order to supress the enemy without realizing that they nearly committed friendly fire.

" _Um, Delta Two...that wasn't us_ ," was Six-Four's quick answer.

"What do you mean, it wasn't you?" Dom asked, curious that if that huge and powerful fireball wasn't one of Six-Four's bombs, what was it than.

" _It means that it wasn't us behind that fireball if that is what you thought, Delta Two. It just came straight from the sky and nearly hit us on its way down. I don't know what the hell it was, but it landed on the prison blocks if you wonder_ ," answered Six-Four, just as surprised by that unexpected fireball from the sky as Delta Two was

"Prison blocks, eh. You think it was some sort of a meteor or something?" Dom asked Marcus, who thought for a moment what that fireball might be exactly. Some of those gut feelings from earlier now returned, and they were telling him that the fireball wasn't a regular meteor or anything of that matter, but something...alien, as strange and weird it sounded to him. Something that wasn't just a dumb space rock that decided it should smash itself into this former prison for today, but something of higher nature.

"Don't know, Dom. It could be...or it could be something else," was Marcus' answer to Dom, who blinked at him, wondering of what he meant with that. However, they couldn't waste more time staying here and try to figure out what that sudden fireball was when this broken-down prison was soon about to be overrun by the enemy forces, and they better get going if they'd to get to Hoffman before it'd be too late.

"Still want to try the prison blocks? I mean, we don't know what that was, and it might contain something that we should stay away from," Dom asked Marcus, no longer sure if he wanted to shoot his way out of here through the prison blocks, now that the alien fireball landed just right there with whatever unknown stuff it might have brought with it.

Marcus' instincts were once again giving him advice on what he should do now, and they were telling him that he should stick with his earlier decision. Not only because he truely wanted to rip the enemies' guts out left and right all over the building, but also because his instincts were telling him that he should seek out that crashlanded fireball and find out what it actually was. He didn't know why, but he was sencing that the fireball was of absolute importance for them and whatever it was, it could be the game changer that they'd been looking for eversince this war started fourteen years ago. It reminded him of his earlier sences back in his cell; that this day would take his fate to an entire different future, and now he felt that whatever that fireball was, it'd be the tool that fate would use to change his future's course. While he thought it weird that this was what his instincts were telling him, he decided that he should still listen to them anyway, as they'd never given him wrong advices on what to do before.

"Yeah, I still want to try the prison blocks. Not gonna let a space rock keep me from gunning and gutting down any freaks standing in our way," Marcus said, determined to seek out that fireball, slaughter all enemies standing between him and it, and then retreat back to Hoffman. All in that order.

"Alright. Let's go then," Dom said before he ran toward a rusty iron door by the left side of the hall, with Marcus following him. When they stood before it, it turned out to be jammed and wouldn't open normally, but one strong kick by Marcus did a fine job breaking it up. But after he did it, they were faced with crows flying right out of the opening, as well something horrid.

"Nice," Marcus said quietly, facing three mutilated, flayed corpses that hung in chains by their broken limbs from the celling, their decayed wounds showing clear, obvious signs of prolonged torture. Only one of them, the one hanging in the middle, had still its head, and its skinless, eyeless face was frozen in a permenant state of mindless panic and despair. It was clear that whoever these people were, they'd to endure a long period of endless, unimaginable torture that only those of most hateful and sadistic minds were capable of creating before finally dying a horrible, gruesome death.

"Oh, God. What the hell's been going on in this place?" Dom asked, slightly shocked to see this inhumane display of absolute cruelty.

"You don't want to know," Marcus answered somnely as they moved foward, leaving the hanging corpses for the gluttonous crows to keep feeding themselves on.

The Gears arrived to a outdoor bridge that connected the prison blocks with the hall, and above flew a King Raven pass the bridge as it was on its way to the combat at nearby.

" _Ground units are taking heavy fire. We have hostiles in all directions!_ " the King Raven said through the radio comlink, noticing one of its fellow choppers of the situation while it dropped bombs at the prison blocks, trying to supress the now heavily counter-attacking enemies in order to allow the Gears to move foward. The bombs created strong, firely explosions with enough force to make the entire prison to tremble, causing heavy bricks and fabrics to fly everwhere.

" _Copy that. Calling for reinforcements. Over_ ," answered the other King Raven as they were now taking the fight to the enemy, gunning and blasting on them all around the prison. The Gears, meanwhile, was hiding behind a pillar supporting the broken-down roof of the bridge as the King Ravens' bombs were being dropped in greater numbers, causing explosions that nearly made the entire prison to break down.

"Marcus, the tower!" Dom cried out as one last, huge explosion caused the very earth to tremble with mighty force, spreading dust all over the bridge. And behind that dust, guttural, inhuman growls and war-cries could be heard from the other side of the bridge, and when the dust cleared down, the enemy finally revealed themselves from the darkness to the Gears, their scaly, pale, animalistic faces twisted with hatred and bloodlust. They were huge and muscular, at least seven feet tall, creatures that could be described as male humanoid reptilians who were carrying cruder armor and weapons than that of the Gears. Their scaly hide was pale but yet thick and strong, working like a natural protection-armor for them. Their predatory teeth and claws were sharp and deadly, looking like they were made to tear flesh right of the bone. Their eyes were two tiny, red, soulless orbs that were beaming with lust for carnage and destruction. From the prison blocks at the other side of the bridge, right below the guard tower, a pair of these warlike reptilians ran out, trying to fight back the Gears that were in progress invading the prison and slaughtering them with their unnatural flying machines. Though suddenly, they saw a pair of Gears at the other side quickly moving foward toward them.

"Ground-Walkeerrsss," the first reptilian hissed, sneering with hateful disgust before he aimed his assault rifle – also known by the Gears as Hammerbuster, a more cruder counterpart of their Mark Lancer which also lacked their iconic chainsaw bayonet - at the Gears and fired, causing them to seek cover behind over a huge fallen stone fabric. Its companion saw the Gears as well running behind the stone fabric and also began firing at their position.

"Marcus, Grubs! Take over!" Dom cried out as he and Marcus had seek cover from the reptilians' – nicknamed "Grubs" by the Gears – fire, keeping them from moving foward. Their bullets were firing relentlessly at their position, refusing to allow them to move even one inch foward. But both the Gears were patient and cunning warriors, so they knew that in a thight position like this, all they'd to do was to wait until the grubs had wasted all of their ammo and had to reload. It'd been then they'd attack with their own fire. As tough and ferious as the grubs were, they tended to prefer mindless brute force than strategic cunning and tactical finess, and that was the weakness that Marcus and Dom would take advantage once again to claim their victory.

Soon, the Gears heard clicks from the grubs' positions at the bridge, indicating that they'd ran out all of their bullets. And this was what the Gears had awaited for.

"Marcus, now!" Dom cried out as he stood up and began shooting at the grubs, who were in process of reloading before Dom's fire forced them to take cover. Marcus, meanwhile, was quickly advancing foward by cover for cover, getting closer to the grubs by each step under the protection of Dom's supression fire. One of the grubs had managed to quickly reload his assault fire, and he stood up to return the fire, but unfortunately for him, it only made him a bigger target for Dom, who quickly aimed at the grub's head and fired. Even with the grub's natural protective hide, it was still useless against a perfect headshot by a trained human soldier with a reliable assault rifle, and the grub didn't have the time to cry out in rage before his head exploded into several gory pieces.

"Yeah!" Dom cried out in victory, pumped that he perfectly got one of those monstrous freaks. But the other grub, enraged to witness its comrade die by the hands of those filthy ground-walkers, cried out in rage and quickly stood up to rain firely vengeance upon them, only to face Marcus shooting at it pointblank. The close fire took the grub with surpise and its hesitation to counterattack gave Marcus a chance to finish it. He jumped over the grub's cover with full stength, and with that force he was able to kick the grub down to the ground with a powerful kick. The dazed grub could only stare in shock before the quick Marcus revered up his assault rifle's chainsaw bayonet and with a cry thrusted it into its stomach. The bayonet cut through the stomach and up to the grub's head, massacring all the organs in its way, causing blood to spray everwhere. The grub couldn't even cry out in pain and despair, as in so much shock and daze it was by the unimaginable pain it'd to suffer in its last seconds in life that it simply couldn't. Soon what was left after Marcus' deed was an unrecognizable, bloody pile of mangled flesh, organs and bones.

"Good job," Dom said as he arrived to Marcus, who only nodded shorty, as to him, this was just another day at work. They were about to keep going when suddenly, bullets from the right were being fired at them. The Gears quickly jumped into cover as a pair of grubs were shooting at them from a higher bridge made of pipelines.

"King Raven, this is Delta Two. We've got Locusts on that bridge. Over," Dom said into his communicator, summoning one of the choppers to take down those grubs.

" _Roger that. Moving in_ ," answered the pilot as one of the King Ravens was flying toward the pipeline bridge, with its grubs turning their attention away from the Gears to try firing at it instead. But their small arms stood no chance against the flying war-machine, and it quickly took care of them by gunning them down with its frontal machine gun. The heavy firepower caused the pipeline-bridge to explode, taking the grubs down with it to oblivion; one of them giving one last cry of pain before perishing.

"Marcus, lets move," Dom said as he and Marcus continued and walking into the opening of the prison blocks, unaware what truely awaited them in there. Something completely out of their world that, like an answer to a deep prayer, had been sent by fate to be the mighty force that would totally change the course of their very future, and that of their world. Something that would soon reveal itself to be the salvation for the downtrodden and war-weary humans of this world, and especially for the members of Delta Squad of the Coalition of Ordered Governments.

* * *

Darkness was all he could see. A silent, empty darkness there not even a tiny speck of light could be seen no matter where he stared. His head felt like it was swimming in an storming sea that with great might was causing his senses to tremble greatly, casing the feeling of nausea to almost overpower him. His mind and memories were in a dizzy state, and he found it difficult to sort his situation out, as that heavily nauseating feeling quickly killed any rational thought that made its way into his mind. It took him several moments before his head cleared out some of that dizziness enough to form basic thought, and after it did, he could now hear a very close voice calling for him in the darkness; the same voice that a moment ago sounded like a low, blurred eco before slowly becoming all more clearer, revealing itself to be a woman's voice, calling for him with deep concern.

"Chief! Chief! Are you alright?! Can you hear me, Chief?!" the woman asked him, and he immidately recognized who it was.

"Yeah, I'm fine Cortana," the man – The Master Chief – answered as he opened his eyes, causing the darkness to disappear, as he then stood up from the ground belonging to the broken down, ruined building he was inside in.

"Oh, thank goodness you are. You almost had me there, Chief. That jump had to be one of your least graceful ones, and it looked like the landing would be too hard even for you," the woman – Cortana – said, relieved that the Chief managed to survive that great fall without any permenant damages.

"What happened? Did we make it home?" the Master Chief asked Cortana, now noticing the building they'd crashlanded into from the sky, and from what he could see, it looked like a prison that belonged atleast five centuaries in the past back on Earth.

"I don't know. All I remember was a blinding, powerful force breaking the frigate in two, and then you bursting out of your end of the frigate like a sky rocket. Before I could figure out what was happening, you crashlanded into this building," Cortana answered, unsure if they really landed on Earth or on an entire different planet. She hoped it was the first, but considering the chaotic forces that were at play back on the Ark, the possibility that they'd ended up on a wrong place was quiet high.

"Well, we better start looking around if we want to find out," The Master Chief said as he began to walk, looking around for either a way out of this prison or for any humans that might be inside. While at it, he remembered their other companions that went with them in their escape from the Ark.

"Where are our friends? Did they made it through the portal, or did they..." The Master Chief asked as he stopped in his tracks, a slight tone of worry audiable in his stoic voice.

"No, I think they made it through like us. But I'm not sure if they followed us to exactly here, as I can't find their signals nearby. They could be anywhere, on this planet or even another," Cortana answered quickly, hearing that worried tone that other less attentive people wouldn't hear behind that thick wall of stoic indifference. Even so, she didn't want to sugercoat the situation for the Chief of what could've happened to their friends.

"But I'll try to contact them," she then said before she activated the comlink. "Johnson!? Arbiter?! Spark?! Can any of you hear me?! This is Cortana! I and the Chief have landed on a place we arn't sure is Earth or somewhere else, but if you can still hear us, please response!" she finished and awaited for answers, only to recieve none. She tried again.

"Johnson! If you or anyone else can hear us, please response!" she finished, but yet again only got silence in return. She signed.

"Well, it seems that whereever they are, it's not here," Cortana said as the Master Chief shook his head at being seperated from his comrades when they needed to stick together at whereever they'd found themselves stranded at.

"Then we better go find them than," Master Chief said with great resolute, and was about to do just that when suddenly, he and Cortana heard some loud sounds echoing outside the building. Based on their type and altitude, the first thought that appeared in their heads of that of moving aircrafts.

"Are they pelicans?" the Master Chief asked as he looked up on the hole at the roof, hoping that one of the aircraft would fly pass it so that he could get a good look at it. If one of them did, it'd give them the confirmation they needed on if they were either on Earth ot any other UNSC-controlled planet, or at an entire unknown one.

"No. They don't sound like that. To me they sound more like if they're powered by old school propellers instead," Cortana answered.

"The Army?" The Master Chief asked, as since when jet engiens became available enough for quick and cheap mass production for the military, propeller-driven aircrafts, like helicopters, were now only being used in smaller numbers by the UNSC Army.

"No, they sound too...primitive to be ones of the Army's," Cortana answered, causing the Spartan to feel a small sence of dread within him, as he was aware that propeller-driven aircrafts, especially of older kinds, were mostly used by insurrectionist factions operating from some of the most violent of Outer Colonies. And if this planet indeed was one of those colonies, and those propeller aircrafts belonged to those insurrectionists, then he and Cortana could end up in deep trouble

And then they heard another type of loud sound that immediately cought their attention.

Gunfire. Lots of it. And very close by.

The Master Chief quickly went alart, aiming his assault rifle foward. The gunfire was getting louder and more intense, with the loudest ones obviously comming from the aircrafts. Sounds of guttural screams of pain and death were mixed in with the sounds of fire and explosions, and it became all more clear to them that they'd landed in the midst of a war zone. But who fought whom and why was completely unknown to them, and they really hoped that they wouldn't need to find it out the hard way. Fighting another war in a seemingly unknown planet, immediately right after they just ended their own decades-long war of apocalyptical propotion, was the last thing they wanted do right now. Especially when they didn't know who were fighting this new war. But Master Chief steeled himself as he walked foward with his assault rifle aiming at everywhere, hearing the sounds of war comming ever more closer toward them, ready to fight yet again with Spartan might if this new, unknown war would force itself upon them.

"Chief, I'm tracking movements from the floor below. Check out what they are, but don't engage unless you've too. I'm not really in the mood for another pointless carnage," Cortana said as the Master Cheif quickly ran toward the mezzanine and hid behind a stone pillar. He peeked over to see if anything were below, only to see none so far.

"Are they UNSC or any other familiar faces?" he asked as he readied his assault rife for combat, as he could hear the firefight comming closer to their position.

"No, they aren't. I'm picking entirely different signals from eveywhere, and even those choppers are using radio frequencies that I'm absolutely unfamiliar with. Frequencies that are too primitive to even be considered as UNSC or even as Innies. I don't know about you Chief, but I'm starting to think that this isn't Earth," Cortana answered, with the Master Chief lightly nodding at her statement. His instincts were now strongly telling him that they'd landed and now were lost on an entirely different, unknown planet. Soon, their instincts would get their confirmation.

Suddenly, bullets were spraying from the floor directly below them, taking them with surprise. Guttural war cries were mixed in with the gunfire, their animalistic nature causing the Master Chief to wonder what type of creatures were at below him. They sounded too deep and...bloodthirsty to be any of the Covenant. If more, their guttural roars sounded somewhat more like the Flood, though he hoped they weren't. A desire that an anxious Cortana shared, as a fragment of panic resurfed when those cries sounded way too familiar to that of her former torturer. However, when the Master Chief peeked out, he saw creatures that basically were ugly, humanoid reptilians that looked some sort of mocking parodies of humans advancing and shooting at the entrence. Surpised to see them, he was now definitely sure as hell this wasn't Earth. He then turned his eyes toward the entrence to see what these creatures were firing at, and soon he saw two humans, both big and muscular men wearing thick and bulky armor, storming the blocks with their strange-looking assualt rifles. The men, one brown-skinned and the other white-skinned wearing a black bandana on his head, ran toward a stone fabric where they took cover and began shooting back at the reptilians.

"I guess it's official; we're now higly advanced aliens stranded on a primtive, war-torn, backward planet," Cortana said trying to joke even if she internally was worried of their situation's true seriousness. The Master Chief didn't hear her as his attention remanied focused on the men and their reptilian foes. He didn't know why, but for some reason, he found himself intriguing by watching this obsure skrimish, as if this was a war that he somehow was already connected with. As if this world was already much part of his universe like Reach or Earth were. But most of all, he found himself intriguing by that bandana-wearing man, who was fighting the reptilians with great ferocity, quickly advancing at them with great force and leaving plenty of them dead in his path. The Master Chief couldn't help but, strangly enough, feeling some sort of kinship with that man, and soon he actually found himself rooting for him.

"You think they're Innies?" The Master Chief asked Cortana, still watching the battle, and the white-skinned man's progress, behind the pillar.

"I don't think so. Their armor and weapons look too...different than theirs," Cortana answered, and just as she mentioned that, the white-skinned man buffaloed down one of the reptilians to the floor, and before it could get up, he revered up the stange bayonet on his assault rifle. A loud sound echoed through the building, and smoke came out from the bayonet. The man thrusted the activated bayonet on the reptilian, and to the shock of both the Master Chief and Cortana, blood and gore sprayed everywhere as the man cut through the reptilian with ruthless brutality. When just a pile of flesh and bones remained of the reptilian, they realized that the bayonet was a freaking _chainsaw_.

"You know, maybe this planet isn't as primitive as you'd think," Cortana said to the Master Chief, who could only stare at the carnage that man had caused the reptilian with his unique weapon. Being on the field for decades by now, the Spartan knew that you could know quite a lot about a war based by what type of weapons that were being used, and basing on that man's use of a chainsaw bayonet, he could tell that this native war was a war that had been reduced to a war of meer survival, there both sides were forced to use whatever scrap of basic tool aviable as basic weapons. Not at all the type of intergalactic war against enormous extraterrestiral and eldrict horrors threatening to destroy the entire universe that he just came from. The Spartan couldn't help but feeling courious of what this war was about, and he was feeling that desire to know more about it. So he kept watching with mild facination at the skrimish, and especially the man's attempt to push forward at the reptilians.

The reptilians roared in rage after they watched their comrade slaughtered like that by the man, and they were blasting at him with everything they got, including what seemed to be a gun turret below the mezzanine. The man retreated behind some stone fabrics, supported by his comrade, and answered their fire. However, the Master Chief and Cortana noticed one of the reptilians throwing something that looked like a Type-2 Antipersonnal Fragmentation Grenade, more known as a Brute Spike Grenade, at the man's position, and just like a Spike Grenade, it stuck at the stone fabric, forcing the man to run away from the coming explosion. However, he only manged to get so far before the grenade exploded, and he was thrown across the room by the exploding force before he landed on the floor on his stomach with a grunt. One of the reptilian quickly ran up to him and kicked him hard at his side, forcing the winded and gasping man to roll on his back. The reptilian revered up the chainsaw bayonet on its assault rifle and with a guttural chuckle put it above its head, soon about to thrust it down at the lying, defenseless man, but not before enjoying a moment of dominant superiority over him. The man's comrade was shouting his name in panic and tried to save him, only to be forced to hide behind his cover as the other reptilians were deliberately shooting at him. Meanwhile, the reptilian holding the chainsaw bayonet was preparing to thrust it down right at the man, who was sneering defiantly at it, and the Chief was feeling that urge to intervine. The same urge he felt everytime he saw a fellow human being threatened by whatever genocidal freak that wanted he or her dead. It was an urge that he'd developed during the war against the Covenant, after he saw countless of his fellow human beings slaughtered by the alien empire's forces en masse. And now it was shouting at him to get down there and save the man before he'd suffer a gruesome fate. A demand that was being reinforced by Cortana.

"Chief, we got to do something," Cortana wispered in the Master Chief's ears, anxiously worried for the man below. The Spartan nodded, silently agreeing with her, and he quickly began to make his move.

Marcus could only curse at his situation. He'd to spend half a decade rotting behind bars, only to then get thrown right into the war and right before the non-existing mercy of a chainsaw bayonet-wielding grub, all while he'd to deal with aweful ringing in his ears, winded lungs, pain in his limbs and some really bad headache. He defenselessly stared up at the grub, who was giving him a sadistic, teeth-breaing grin while holding its bayonet up, his assault rifle too far away from his reach for him to pick it up and fight back. Meanwhile, Dom was in a state of panic.

"Marcus, I'm coming!" Dom shouted and tried to push through toward the grub, but its friends heard his scream and began firing at him at once, forcing him to quickly seek cover. The fire kept blasting at his cover, making it impossible for him to do anything but to curse at the grubs and his inability to save Marcus.

Marcus gave the grub a defiant sneer, making it clear that he wasn't afraid of it. If he was going to die, he'd die like a Gear. And Gears didn't fear death, and they sure as fuck didn't fear the grubs, no matter how much they tried to make them. The grub, realizing Marcus' defiance to its dominance, sneered back at him in frustration and rage, and then threw its roaring bayonet at him. Marcus closed his eyes, praying internally that his death, though no doubt painful, would at least be quick. He also regretted that the last thing he'd ever hear was Dom's desperate cries in the midst of fire of war. But he was ready, if this was the way for him to find redemption for his mistakes.

But the pain didn't come. He didn't feel those metal-teeth cutting through his muscles and bones to end his life like a cattle in the slaugtherhouse. Instead, he heard a _thud_.

Courious, he opened his eyes, and what he saw surprised him. He saw that _somebody_ was standing before him with its back turned at him, holding the grub's assault rifle at its barrel, keeping it from cutting him through. Whatever what was standing before him, it was at least one or perhaps even two feet taller than him and the grub. It wore what looked like technologically advanced, even futuristic, green, heavy armor that yet looked more elegant and agile than that of the Gears. The armor enveloped the stranger from head to toe, leaving no skin bare, and that it perhaps was even a cyborg entered Marcus' mind. Whatever he was – if you were going to base its gender through the masculine shape of its body armour- and for whatever reason, he'd saved Marcus' life, and Marcus could only stare at the stranger's back with surprised, wide eyes, not sure how to respond.

Everyone else in the room also stared in surprise at the strange being that saved Marcus' life, leading to an end to the fight and a complete silence in the room. Dom stared at the human-like being that saved his best friend with awed and courious type of surprise, wondering what it was that just came from no where and stopped the grub from killing Marcus just in time. The grubs stared at the strange being with another type of surprise, of that of dread and shock. Just by watching this being, they were feeling something that most of them had never felt before, and thought they never would. What they were feeling just by the meer presence of that being was nothing more than basic, ruthless, ice-cold, primal _fear_.

And that was also what the grub whose weapon was being held by the stranger was also feeling. It desperately tired to shake his hold off from its weapon, but no matter how strongly it shook, it barely effected the stranger's grip. The grub began to panic, and it was using more of its strength to try to get the stranger's grip off, all while shouting at its comrades to help it. But the stranger kept his grip, his expressionless visor staring straight through the panicking grub. After a moment of the grub's futile struggle, the stranger made his next move.

He forcefully pulled back the arm holding the pipe and pulled the gun right of the grub's hands. The stranger then quickly and fastly kicked at the shocked and terrified grub right at it chest, and before anyone could even hear the ribs being smashed into powder or see the blood and organs fly out of all openings, the grub flew across the room before it slammed right at the stone wall. The impact left a bloody and gory spot, and the grub's mangled body fell down to the floor, lying on a pool of its own blood and organs.

The stranger didn't stop there. Immediately he turned around the dead grub's gun, aimed it foward at the other shocked grubs and began firing at them. He shot down the at least two or three grubs before the others shook off their shock and immidiately resumed their fight. Only now they were focused entirely on their new enemy.

The stranger now began to run toward the grubs, their fire having little effect in stopping him. When he got close to a grub standing behind some stone fabrics and firing at him, he revered up the chainsaw bayonet and thrusted it through the grub's right shoulder. The bayonet cut ruthlessly through the grub's upper body down to its waist, leaving it into bloodsquirting remains. Before the remains had even landed on the floor he continued forward, shooting the remaining bullets at the grubs firing at him. One grub that wasn't fast enough to take cover from the stranger's blazing rampage had its head exploding into pieces, causing its comrade standing next to it to be covered by its blood, leaving it blinded and shocked...and unprepared for that headbashing it received by the stranger when he used his assault rifle's butt as a club, smashing it into several pieces, as well decapitating the grub, in progress. He then picked foward his own assault rifle hanging from his back, running pass the bloodgushing, headless corpse.

The stranger then charged right toward the mass of grubs before him, firing at one before bodyslamming it, causing it to fall on the floor with a heavy thud. Before it could even rise up, the stranger lifted up his foot and stomped right at the grub's head, turning it into a splatter of blood, skullbones and gray matters. A pair of its comrades tried to attack the stranger from both sides, but he elbowed the one at his right, causing its skull to be literally caved in, and then he picked foward a spike grenade from his waist and slammed its spikes deep into the face belonging to the grub attacking him at his left. The grub went immediately limb after the spikes penetrated through its face, and it made it easy for the stranger to kick it toward another pair of grubs. Once it landed right at the arms of one of the grubs, the grenade exploded, and spikes flew all over the room, with a few of them nailed several grubs, causing a screaming bloodbath inside the room. But the stranger wasn't done yet, as a few grubs were still alive after his rampage, including the one operating the heavy turret. That grub immediately aimed its turret at the stranger and fired countless rounds at him, desperately trying to kill him with everything it got. But the stranger picked up one of the many corpses from the floor and then used it as a meat shield to hide behind from the turret fire. With it he was able to advance quickly toward the turret operator, and then he was close enough he peeked from the dead grub's shoulder, aimed his sidearm at the operator's head and fired. The bullet hit the turret operator right at its forehead, causing it to fall down at the turret, and with its death, the turret became silent. The stranger then threw away the bullet-ridden corpse he'd used, just before two roaring grubs tried to jump at him from behind. But the stranger quickly turned around, grabbed both their heads and then slammed them right at each other, reducing their heads into gory smears on his hands. When those headless grubs fell down to the bloody floor, the roaring sounds of a chainsaw bayonet could be heard as one berserking grub began ferociously to attack the stranger with it, swinging thoughtlessly at him with savage, desperate ferocity, but no matter how fast or quick the grub swung at him, the stranger effortlessly avoided every attack, dancing and slipping away from each attempt. Eventually, the grub became tired and exhausted, and its attacks more sloppy and slow, and the stranger used the grub's slower, tired movements to grab its arm and then with a quick snap broke its wrist. The grub let go of its weapon, and reared its head back screaming in pain. The stranger then quickly gave a fast, well-placed palm strike right at its throat, crushing it, and through it the grub's life. After that one act, the stranger turned his eyes at the last standing grub.

The grub, who was wielding what looked like a lever-action shotgun, stared at the stranger with wide eyes, terrified and traumatized by the bloodbath the unknown stranger had caused amongst its comrates with unstoppable efficency. The stranger looked back at the panicking grub, his eyes hidden behind it expressless visor, which only caused the last grub even more terror. That calm and cold state that starnger reflected toward the grub caused it to feel a terror that only a desperate and cornered lesser kind of predatory creature would feel in facing a superior kind of predator; a kind that was the very apex in the huntingfield that was war, standing at the top of the food chain above the corpses belonging to the lesser creatures that were its easy preys. The grub was trembling with terror before the demonic stranger, terrified by the sheer _calmness_ that he showed, despite being covered by the blood and gore that once used to be its comrades and despite that brutality he showed during that skrimish. As if the slaughter of its fellow warriors was nothing but, as the pathetic groud-walkers would say, "another day at work".

Its terror finally consumed it into a panicking frenzy, and with a roar it aimed its shotgun at the stranger and fired. The bullets did little to put down the stranger, who was running toward the blasting grub, as his power armor was reflecting the bullets away, protecting him from harm. The stranger fastly ran toward the all-more desperate grub before he eventually bodyslammed himself at it with great strength and speed, casuing it to fly of the ground before landing with a heavy and painfull thud. As it did so, it'd let go of its shotgun, which the stranger caught in mid-air and then aimed at the lying grub. It could only stare in terror at the stranger and give one last shout of terror before the stranger pulled the trigger and blasted its brain all over the floor.

A moment of silence followed as the stranger lowered the shotgun before dropping it entirely to the floor. He then just stared at the massacre he'd created, seemingly silently reflecting on his deeds. However, a voice behind him would interrupt his inner thoughts.

"Hey, you!"

The stranger turned around to face Marcus and Dom looking at him with both awe and suspicion, amazed by the stranger's prowess and deadly efficency.

"That was...awesome! Man, you made mass slaughtering those grubs look easy! I wish that I could do just like that," Dom said, being the more amazed one of the Gears.

"Yeah, and thanks for saving my life in the process, but I can't help to wonder...who are you?" Marcus said, being the more collected and right-to-the-point one of the Gears.

The stranger kept looking at the Gears for a moment, not immediately answering Marcus' question. The Gears began to feel somewhat discomfortable and awkward by the stranger's silent and expressless stare at them, wondering if he'd actually answer them. The fact that this mysterious stranger was taller and proven to be much better at killing grubs than them reinforced that awkward, suspicious feeling in them. But it didn't take long before the stranger eventually answered.

"I'm...a friend, or at least an ally if you prefare," the stranger finally answered, his voice deep and thick, causing more awe in the Gears, who couldn't help but wonder that type of being they were actually facing.

"Really? But are you some kind of soldier?" Dom asked, causing Marcus to roll his eyes at him.

"No, Dom. He's the fucking ice-cream man. _Of course_ he's a soldier. But what I wonder is if you're some sort of cyborg or an alien or what? Or are you actually a human?" Marcus asked, his eyebrows risen in suspicious couriosity, especially courious if this super-soldier actually was a human being behind that armour.

"Well, you could say that we're of all those," another voice answered, this time a woman's voice, which caused both Gears to jump back and stare at the stranger with surprised, wide eyes.

"Wait, are you a...woman?" Dom asked, surprised that the stranger's voice suddenly changed that of a woman. In his view, it'd be quite the mindblow if the stranger indeed was a woman. Not because that he thought that women were unfit for war, as female Gears fighting on the frontlines were quite common if only not just as common as male Gears, but because nothing on the stranger revealed anything of him being of the female gender.

"No, I'm the designated artificial intelligence unit belonging to the primal and war-crazed maniac inside this can standing before you," the voice said teasefully from the stranger, causing the Gears to blink their eyes in amused fascination. And they'd a feeling that the behind his visor, the stranger was rolling his eyes at the female A.I. unit's descripition of him. "If you need to know more, my name is Cortana, and the man before you is Master Chief Petty Officier John-117, the very best amongst the Spartan super-commandos of UNSC. Surely you'd know about that, wouldn't you?" Cortana asked, hoping that these pair of native soldiers would give her and the Chief the answer they wanted.

To her disappointment, they only stared ignorantly at the Spartan, obviously not knowing what she was talking about. But she still tried, hoping that just maybe something would give her and the Master Chief the confirmation they wanted.

"You know, UNSC, Spartans, Earth, Covenant, Reach, does anything of that rings any bells?" Cortana tried, a pleading tone evident in her voice, but her hope was finally crushed when the Gears only shook their heads.

"Sorry, but I can't tell that we know anything about the stuff you're mentioning," Marcus answered, causing the Master Chief to shake his head in disappoinment.

"When where're we, and who're you?" The Spartan asked the Gears, hoping their answers would give some sort of sense in his and Cortana's strange situation.

"Well, my name is Dominic Santiago and my friend here is Marcus Fenix. We're Gears who've been fighting those grubs you just killed for years. And you happen to be on the planet named Sera."

"Sera? Does that name tell you anything Cortana?" the Master Chief asked his artificial companion, who was checking through the information she'd assimilated from her countless visits in the computer network archives of both UNSC and the Covenant.

"Can't say it do, Chief. I find no mention of any planet named Sera in neither UNSC or Covenant computer networks. I'm sorry, Chief, but it seems that we really are stranded and lost in the unknown. I'm not even sure if our friends back home will find us now," Cortana answered, her spirit somewhat downfallen now that despite checking through the countless mass of data she'd in her system, not a single bit of it mentioned any planet named Sera. The hope that they'd be able to return home after that mess back on the Ark was now down at the bottom, and the Master Chief couldn't help by letting his head fall in quiet, mild despair.

"Than maybe you could help us fight the grubs. You do seems quiet good at it, and we need any help we can get in this war, so if you'd offer your assistance it'd be appreciative," Marcus suddenly said, causing the Master Chief to look up at him. But before he could answer, Dom pulled Marcus over away from the Spartan, wanting to speak to him in private.

"Wait Marcus, are you not going too fast here now? Are you absolutely sure that we can trust them? I mean, how do we really know that they really are the good guys, here to help us in our war. For what all we know, they could be alien spies or scouts sent here to see if Sera is fit for invasion. Do you really trust them enough to ask them straight out to help us?" Dom wispered to Marcus from the earshot of the stranded aliens, not ready to trust them immediately before becoming absolutely sure that they really could be.

Marcus thought for a moment if he really could trust the aliens, and his instincts were immediately telling him that yes, he could. The same instincts that appeared when he got busted from his cell, and when he watched the fireball – which he was now sure was the Master Chief himself – fly over the roof windows were telling him that whoever that alien warrior was, he'd be the game changer that COG had been praying for in years, and the fact that the alien Master Chief had actually saved him from a cruel and brutal death when he didn't need to was enough to tell Marcus that those aliens would be useful allies.

"Yes, I trust them. My gut is teeling me that whomever they really are, they're friendlies and that we've no reason to mistrust them. It telling me that even if they're an alien commando killing machine and a some sort of a living computer, they really are good people at heart. I mean, if they really are spies as you claim, than there was no need for them to save my life, and yet they did. Besides, we need all the help we can get, and if they'd be happy to provide it, it'd be a waste from us in not accepting it. You saw it yourself just how little of a chance the grubs stood against them. Who knows, maybe he isn't an alien warrior, but actually a guardian angel sent here to aid us poor mortals in our time of need. I'm ready to have them at my side if it'll mean the defeat of the grubs, and I think you'd also be ready to, if you're ready enough to have a _traitor_ at your side," Marcus wispered back, giving a more cold emphasis at the word "traitor". His answer caused Dom to quietly reconsider his suspicion toward the aliens behind them.

"Alright, if your instinct are telling you that we can trust them, than I'm willing to give them a chance," Dom finally wispered back, sure enough to trust Marcus' instincts about the aliens, as they rearly were ever wrong. However, despite that the Gears' wispering conversation had been taken place several feet away from them, The Master Chief and Cortana had been able to hear them perfectably well due to the Spartan armor's advanced audio receivors.

The Gears returned to the Master Chief, who looked at them quietly as a moment of silence appeared between them. After that short moment, Marcus opened his mouth.

"So...are you in, or not?" he asked the Spartan, hoping that he'd answer yes. It took another moment before the Spartan finally answer.

"We're in," was his final answer, causing both Gears to grin in triumph, knowing that they'd now this super-soldier as their ultimate trump card.

"Yes, we're, and that good because right now, I'm detecting several contacts right outside the doors over there," Cortana said, and after she said that, roars and chuckles could be heard behind the doors she'd mentioned before hot sparks were cutting through them.

"Everyone, prepare yourselves because we're about to have a nasty fight soon. Fenix, Santiago! We need you to support the Chief when he cleaning house with those grubs! Take positions at the flanks!" Cortana ordered, already making a plan of defense to take care of the grubs.

"Aye, ma'am!" Dom said as he and Marcus ran toward the covers flanking the doors the grubs were cutting through; Marcus at the left and Dom at the right.

"And for you Chief, I think you already know what to do," Cortana said somewhat teasefully, perfectly aware that if it was something that was the Spartan's favorite tactic, it was a frontal, head-on assault.

"I do, but first I need a bigger gun," the Spartan said before he headed back toward the turret from before, causing the Gears to cast their eyes at him in surprise.

"Chief, what are you going? The grubs are comming from that way!" Dom shouted, nodding at the sparkling doors that soon would fall.

The Master Chief ignored Dom as he threw aside the grub corpse that was leaning on the turret and then, without any difficulties, casually torn the turret right off its mount.

"What the fuck," Marcus wispered in disbelief as he watched the Master Chief tear off the Troika like nothing, and then was carrying it around like if it was just a plastic toy. However, he didn't have much time to think or stare further as the sparks had suddenly stopped, making it clear that the grubs had finished cutting through the doors.

The Master Chief aimed the Troika Heavy Machine Gun that he was carrying toward the door, awaiting to rain fire upon the soon-to-attack grubs.

"Get ready. Here they come!" Cortana said as the door finally exploded, and soon half a dozen of grubs charged into the hall with guns blazing. But they quickly found out that they'd ran right into a death trap, as the Master Chief immediately began to fire his Troika at them, with the Gears soon following suit. The Spartan quickly killed half of the grubs before they even managed to find cover close to the doors, and some of those who did found themselves getting shot down from both their flanks by the Gears. In less than ten seconds, the seven or eight grubs had already been reduced to only three, and those survivors couldn't do much but to hide behind cover from their enemies' overwhelming fire.

One of them did try to fight back however, as it stood up and with a roar tried to take down the Master Chief. But the Spartan was barely effected by the grub's fire and bravado, and he casually aimed his gun at it and returned its fire. The grub didn't have the time to even scream in pain before its entire upper body was nothing but splattered, bloody remains on the walls. The other two, who watched their comrade being torn into bloody, gory pieces, were consumed with rage and hatred toward the ground-walkers, and like enraged beasts they stood up and began firing bullets everywhere; not aiming at anyone specifically, but just spraying everything they got, hoping that their relentless fire would kill all the ground-walkers, including the strange one who had caused most death amongst them.

Their berserking relentlessness was paying off, as even the Master Chief found himself being pushed back by it, his power shields quickly draining down by the grubs' counterfire. And when Dom stood up to return their fire, he was quickly hit on his right shoulder by one bullet. The force and strenght of that one bullet was enough to make him fall down on his back screaming in pain and surprise.

"Ahh!"

"Dom!" Marcus shouted, hearing his friend's cry. Without thinking, he ran out of his position and toward Dom at the other side, not noticing the bullets that were being sprayed all over above his head, as his concern of his friend's well-being overcame his usual stoic and battle-hardened rationality.

"Chief, cover Marcus!" Cortana immediately ordered when she saw the Gear running straight out through the fire, and the Spartan didn't hesitate in doing that, firing more than ever at the grubs. In doing so, he managed to kill one of them, whose head exploded into a gory geyser.

"Dom, are you alright?!" a worried Marcus asked his friend after he managed to run through the fire toward him, checking at Dom to see if that bullet had caused any serious damage.

"Yeah, I'm alright. Just a scratch, that's all," Dom answered, as the bullet that hit him didn't manage to wound him, as it'd failed to penetrate through his thick armor. Though its strong force of impact had yet been powerful enough to cause a bruise on his right shoulder.

After he was sure that Dom was alright, Marcus quickly returned his attention back to the firefight between the Master Chief and the last grub. He saw that in its attention toward the human-alien warrior, the grub had left its left flank open for an attack, and Marcus wasn't slow in taking advantage of it. He quickly aimed his assault rife at the grub's head and fired. The grub didn't know what hit it before its head exploded by the cold and brutal impacts of the bullets comming from Marcus' weapon.

"Back in your hole!" Marcus shouted in victory as the grub's corpse fell down to the bloody floor. With that grub's death, the exit out of the hall was now open for the Gears and their new allies.

"Gears, the path is clear for us! Let's move it before more grubs are comming!" Cortana said after the grub reinforcement had been massacred by her human companions.

"On it," Dom grunted in pain after Marcus helped him up on his feet. He then quickly put his fingers toward his earpiece while his team was jogging toward the exit.

"Delta One, this is Delta Two. We're ready for extraction. Over," Dom said into his earpiece as his team was right before the exit, with the Master Chief leading with his Troika, and the Gears following suit.

" _Copy that_ ," answered Delta One through the comlink connected to Dom's earpiece, just as his team walked through exit. They came to a yard that was littered by ruins, surrounded by a high wall that had a opening toward the rocky fields before it, likely caused by explosions from the battle. Before them, they saw that a stronger force of grubs was moving though the ruins towards them, their gutteral voices hissing "ground-walkers" when they saw them. The Master Chief quicky fired his Troika at them, forcing the grubs to find cover amongst the ruins, giving his Gears allies the chance to run toward the short wall close to them.

" _Enemy units! Right there, right there! Over_ ," shouted the pilot flying the King Raven that now arrived to the yard and was shooting down at the grubs, giving Delta Two some covering fire.

" _I see them. Moving in_ ," answered the pilot flying the second King Raven that arrived to the battlefield through the comlink, helping along to give some covering fire for Delta Two. The Master Chief stopped firing his Troika to stare up at the King Ravens that were flying above them blasting at the grubs with everything they got, finding it fascinating to see just how familiar they were to the past helicopters once used by Earth's military forces centuaries ago. The thought that they might have ended up on alternative past Earth hit him for a second. However, the grubs' counterfire aimed at him and his new allies snapped his attention back to the battle, and he resumed firing his Troika at the grubs, helped along by his new native allies firing from the ground and from the sky.

"Gears, the stairs at the left gives you a perfect opportunity to falk the grubs and attack them at their side! I suggest that one of you quickly uses them!" Cortana said, mentioning the stairs leading up at a platform next to the prison wall that would allow one of the Gears to flank the grubs at their right side.

"I'm on it!" Marcus shouted as he quickly ran from his cover and toward the stairs through the fire. Fortuantely, the grubs' attention was focused entirely on his companions, as they ferociously kept blasting the grubs, with the Master Chief's Troika turning the entire yard into a bloodbath, which was helped along by the King Ravens.

" _More are comming two klicks to your right! Can you suppress? Over_ ," the first King Raven asked in the comlink to the second one while suppressing the grubs outside the yard, refuring to the grub reinforcements that were now firing with heavy fire toward the second King Raven.

" _Negative! We can only cover one target. We need your gun, over_!" the second King Raven answered while dogging the anti-air fire, trying to counterattack. Meanwhile, Marcus had managed to run up to the stairs and was now moving through the platform wall behind the grubs as they were still too occupied with fighting his companions to notice him. Thanks to the Master Chief's efforts, the grubs were now reduced to only a handful fighting remains.

" _Negative, negative! We're also taking heavy fire. Stand by_ ," answered the first King Raven as the fighting outside was getting more intense, making it difficult for the aircrafts to avoid the grubs' ferocious fire. But back in the yard, the remaining grubs were on the edge of defeat, and after Dom got a perfect headshot on one of them, only two of them were still standing, or more like covering from the Master Chief's relentless fire. Neather of them noticed Marcus approaching at the their exposed right flank from the platform, giving him the perfect opportunity to throw a Bolo Fragmentation Grenade at them. He picked forward one such grenade and began swinging it. He then jumped out from his cover, standing with great resolve before his unwitting foes.

"Hey, uglies!" he shouted loudly, causing the grubs to turn their heads toward him, their small eyes wide with surprise and shock. "Eat shit and die!" Marcus shouted again, now throwing the grenade right at one of the dumbfounded grubs' face, its small spikes cutting through the skin, causing the grenade to stick. Before the grub could even pull it off, the grenade exploded, causing its head to blow into bloody pieces. Its comrade had no time to revenge its death before Marcus shot it down with his assault rifle, finally ending the skirmish at the yard.

"All threats have been neutralized. Good work, team," Cortana said, her readings finding no remaining grubs left at the yard.

"Not all of them," The Master Chief said as he saw that the fighting outside the yard was still going, with the choppers being pushed to their limits by the grubs' anti-air fire.

" _Incomming! Now, now_!" one of the King Ravens shouted as it tried avoiding the greater concentrated anti-air fire, only to get hit right at its left side. An explosion enveloped the aircraft, and soon it was spinning out of control, with flames and smoke spewing everywhere from it.

" _Oh shit! This is Six-One. I'm hit! I'm hit_!" the pilot shouted out in panic as the burning aircraft was fastly spinning down toward the ground, desperately trying to control it.

" _Controls not_ -" were the pilot's final words before his aircraft finally crashlanded behind the walls, its loud crash causing the very ground and the thick walls to shake with great force.

"Oh god," Cortana wispered out after the King Raven crashlanded, horrified by the violent death the pilot had to suffer.

" _Six-One is down! I repeat, Six-One is down_!" shouted the other pilot into the comlink while he was firing at the anti-air unit that shot down his friend. The aircraft's heavy fire bombarded that unit's position with enough force to cause a pair of loud and strong explosions to envelope the land, annihilating them into a firing blaze. After that, the only sound that could be heard across the landscape was that of the King Raven's propellers as it was circling around the field.

" _Be advised we're aborting mission. Repeat, we're aborting mission. Retrieving Delta Squad now_ ," said the pilot into the comlink, realizing that the mission to reclaim the prison was too risky and that it was better to retreat back with Delta Squad. Meanwhile, the Gears and their new allies were moving toward the blasted hole on the wall, moving to meet up with the King Raven out on the field. However, a loud, trembling sound could be head comming from the slighy shaking ground, and right than did Cortana pick up something.

"Chief, I'm picking up a _huge_ signal beneath us, and it's...moving," she said, surprised and worried by the signal comming from underground, getting her teammates' attention. And soon after that, the King Raven also picked up the same signal.

" _Delta, there's something moving below ground. Over_ ," the pilot said after he picked up the signal.

" _I see it too. What are we looking at?_ " asked the chopper's gunner after he too picked the same signal.

" _Hell if I know_ ," answered the pilot while he was landing right outside the yard to pick Delta Squad up. Meanwhile, the trembling underground was getting stronger and louder, and whatever it was, Dom seems to know exactly what it was, as a mask of fear was plastered on his face, his eyes wide and mouth thin.

"Guys, we need to get to the Raven, now!" he shouted before he ran out toward the Raven, with Marcus and the Master Chief following him. But the Spartan had to discard the Troika as he couldn't run as fast as the Gears while carrying it.

"Go! Go! Go!", Dom demanded while his team ran as fast as they could toward the chopper, the trembling underground following them fast. When they boarded the chopper, they were greeted by a man wearing the same thick armour like the Gears did, but in a blue-coloured one, and whose facial features looked Asian in the minds of the Master Chief and Cortana. The man gave a quick look on all three of them before he turned his full attention at Dom.

"So this was your private mission, huh? Freeing a traitor from his cage," the man disapprovingly said to Dom, who frowned at the man's disrespectful attitude toward his friend.

"With due respect, sir, I freed the "traitor" because I think that we need every man we can get in this war, and right now, we don't have the luxary to be picky about whom we're sending to the meat-grinder!" Dom strongly defended his actions, knowing that the man – Lieutenant Minh Young Kim – would yet still believe the official lies that the brass had spread about Marcus' "crime".

Lieutenant Kim only frowned back at Dom for a second before moving his eyes toward the other being that Dom had taken with him, while purposely ignoring Marcus. The one who wore a complete green armour from head to toe, looking like some sort of futuristic super-soldier. The mysterious being's huge stature caused one of Lieutenant Kim's eyebrowses to rise in courious fascination, making him wonder what type of being Dom had found and dragged with him. Though he didn't have the time to ask the question, as the trembling ground finally broke up, and huge, long spider-like legs crawled up from the hole moving toward the Raven.

"Pilot, get us out of here!" Lieutenant Kim ordered, reluctantly realizing that he simply just had to deal with the people Dom had dragged with him, and the King Raven quickly started to move. Just as it'd lifted from the ground, a huge, fearsome beast crawled up from the hole. A reptilian, airachnid-like beast that had four bigger legs on its fore, and four smaller legs at its rear, and whose head was round and possessed a predatory jaw full with sharp and long teeth large enough to cut an average man in half. It wore a thick helmet that covered its forehead, with its several glowing eyes glaring hatefully at the helicopter behind its small visors. It tried to slam the helicopter with one of its larger legs, but only the top of its claw managed to scrap the aircraft's belly, but its strength yet caused the aircraft to shake violently for a moment. Enough to cause Marcus to lose his grip and fall off of it.

"Marcus!" Dom shouted as he saw his friend falling off the chopper. For Marcus, everything seemed to move in slow motion as he was falling down toward the beast's awaiting mouth. But just as his end seemed to have come, the Master Chief quickly reached his hand toward Marcus over the edge and caught him just in time, saving him from becoming monster food.

"Got you," the Master Chief said to the dangling Marcus staring up at him as he effortlessly dragged the Gear up back inside the helicopter. Once inside, Marcus began to pant as he realized just how close to his death he really was, but this mysterious alien warrior – this Master Chief – that had arrived on Sera from the unknown right before their feet had saved him in neck of time; not just once, but twice, and Marcus couldn't help but marvel at his savior whom he stared at with awe and gratitude, feeling ever more grateful for meeting this heroic being.

"Thank you," Marcus quietly said to the Master Chief, his eyes falling slighty down to the floor.

"Thought I'd let you go?" The Master Chief asked in a dry form of amusement. When Marcus didn't answer, the Spartan continued with a more serious tone. "I'd never let you go, and I never will. As long we're on this ride, I've your back," he finished, his words filled with the strong committment that only a warrior possessing the greatest loyalty to his comrades could ever be worthy of possessing. His direct oath to him caused Marcus to feel his war-weary heart to ease, his semi-hyperventilation now slowing down to normal breathing and his fear melting away by that oath's warmth. Now he was entirely sure that he could put his absolute trust to this Master Chief, and a ghost of a smile was forming on his lips.

"Huh, looks like you got yourself a guardian angel," Lieutenant Kim suddenly said with sarcastic amusement, causing both soldiers to turn their eyes at him. The King Raven kept flying away, leaving the beast that had failed to kill even one of the ground-walkers, and with only its rage and hatred to feast on, it gave out an enourmous roar that quickly echoed across all over the land and to the sky, causing them both to tremble with dread before its wrathful might, while its eyes were still glaring hatefully at the flying vechicle. Inside the aircraft, the Master Chief turned his eyes at the outside as he heard the beast's hateful roar echoing everywhere, and all he could do in response was to hope that his friends were around here safe and alive, and he promised to himself that during his new journey on this obscure world with his new allies he'd find them, reunite with them and then find a way home. But he'd this odd, instinctive feeling that this event was just the beginning of an another long chapter in his life as a champion of humankind, and that he'd soon find his desire to return home for a peaceful life after endless years of relentess war to be all but a distant dream.

* * *

AN: to The Space Wizard Storybook: Thank you for your kind words :)

to Spekters: Thank you!

to SPARTAN-626: I glad that you're interested in my work. As a hint for you I can say that you're definitely gonna see Master Chief fight hand-to-hand with a Bersekrer further down the story.

to Alpha701: Thank you. They sure are.

to shadehound9123: Thanks!


End file.
